Judge Judy decisions

Not a fan of these shows, but I am curious about the payments. Some of
these weirdo's are not employed and yet in a case I just witnessed,
Judy judy awarded the plaintiff $5000. Where is the guy going to get
that money, if totally broke as some of them are. This is true for the
other court case shows too.

BTR1701...

The producers provide a "pot" for each case (whatever the maximum award
may be) and when the judge rules, the pot is split accordingly.

If the pot is $5000 and the judge awards the plaintiff $3900, then the
defendant gets the remaining $1100. So even if you lose the case, you
still make money for appearing on the show. The worst you can do is
break even. If the judge awards the whole pot to one party, then the
other party gets nothing except for whatever nominal fee is paid for the
appearance.

Anim8rFSK...

Actually . . . I have a quibble with your math.

As I understand it, if the pot is $5000 and the judge awards the
plaintiff $3900, then the defendant AND THE PLAINTIFF SPLIT the
remaining $1100.

Otherwise you'd routinely have a situation where the loser got the
bigger share of the money. Like every time the judge awarded less than
half the maximum possible judgement.

Brandy Alexandre...

As an alum of People's court, the show pays the award and both get a
fee for being on. I'm sure they all pretty much work that way,
otherwise there's no incentive for the parties to participate.

Richard Evans...

The loser doesn't pay. The show puts up a kitty and the winner is paid
out of that. I think the kitty is big enough to not only pay the
winner but leave something for the loser as well.