Judge Judy has been ruling the airwaves as TV's most popular judge for the last 16 years, and she's not going anywhere any time soon!
CBS Television Distribution announced on Monday that the star of "Judge Judy," Judy Sheindlin, has renewed her contract for another two more years. Her current contract runs until 2015 and the new deal extends her through 2017 which would give her 21 years on air in total. In contrast, it was recently announced that the Judge Joe Brown show will come to an end in September after 15 years on broadcast TV.
About 10 million people tune in to see the hot-tempered 70-year-old judge each episode who has not indicate plans to retire. A spokesman had no comment on whether Sheindlin will be getting a raise from her reported $45 million annual salary.
Despite her widely successful court show, Judge Judy ran into a bit of personal trouble as reports surfaced last month that she is being sued by the ex-wife of her producer Randall Douhit who claims that Judge Judy only paid $50,000 for fine china that is worth $500,000.
According to Patric Jones, Douhit's ex-wife, Douhit and the judge conspired together to keep her from getting her share of the sale of their Christofle Mary Bone china which was community property. Now Jones wants the family law TV judge to return the china or pay her $514,421.14 which includes punitive damages.
However, the feisty judge is fighting back against the lawsuit. She told TMZ.com, "I have not seen any complaint by the former Mrs. Douthit, however, I don't owe this lady a cent. And if this 50-year-old woman would spend her time more productively at trying to find a job, instead of abusing the judicial system with frivolous lawsuits, we would all be a lot better off."