Judge Judy sued over $500,000 in fine china

Yes, the most famous and most popular judge on TV is facing her own lawsuit.

Judge Judy, aka Judge Judith Sheindlin, was sued by the ex-wife of the producer of her own TV show. The allegation: Judge Judy bought fine china worth more than $500,000. But according to the suit filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Judge Judy only paid $50,000 for the Christofle Mary Bone china.

Patric Jones, the ex-wife of Randall Douhit, claims Judge Judy conspired with Mr. Douhit to keep her from getting her share of their community property.

Jones wants the family law TV judge to return the china or pay her $514,421.14 – plus punitive damages.

But Judge Judy isn't budging. She told TMZ.com, which broke the story, "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."

Judge Judy is a small claims court judge who crisply and bluntly adjudicates actual cases for a TV show. According to a recent Associated Press profile, her TV show averaged 10.1 million viewers each day during the third week of January, a typical week –  more than the next three courtroom TV shows combined, the Nielsen company said.

The Judge Judy television show has been on the air for 16 years, and she reportedly makes $45 million a year, mostly in revenue from syndication.

“I don’t mind getting my hands dirty, and I don’t mind getting to the truth of a situation and saying, ‘You’re right, you’re wrong, next case,’ ” Judge Judy said. “If I wasn’t right most of the time, we wouldn’t be having this conversation today," Ms. Sheindlin told AP.