(NewsSpace.com) – Judge Judy Sheindlin is well known for her quick wit and no-nonsense approach to the people who appear before her in court. Now, she’s taking that to the other side of the courtroom in a case filed against a popular tabloid company.
On Monday, May 13, Judge Judy filed a lawsuit against National Enquirer’s parent company, Accelerate360, for defamation. It cites an April 2024 article first published in InTouch Weekly, then others, including the National Enquirer, that showed Sheindlin pictured with Lyle and Erik Menendez. The article was titled “Inside Judge Judy’s Quest to Save the Menendez Brothers Nearly 35 Years After Their Parents’ Murder.” In 1996, the two were convicted of murdering their mother and father, Jose and Mary “Kitty” Menendez, who died in 1989.
Sheindlin claims the article is not only factually incorrect, but it also damaged her good reputation in “one fell swoop.” She says she never expressed support for the brothers. In fact, her name was mixed up with that of an alternate juror by the name of Judi Zamos. Yet, Sheindlin’s lawsuit claims the publication knew this but ran with her name, knowing full well she wasn’t involved.
In a statement to Deadline, Sheindlin said she’s suing because the company showed “no regard for the truth or the reputation I’ve spent a lifetime cultivating.” That, she said, will “cost” the publication. She claims that following the article going live, “humiliation ensued,” and the popular figure “was skewered variously with hatred, distrust, ridicule, contempt or disgrace.” The lawsuit does not specify the damages she is seeking.
The Menendez brothers are hoping to get a new trial after new information came to light about their father, Jose. One member of Menudo, a Latin boy band, claims Jose Menendez sexually abused him in the 1980s. In addition, a letter Erik sent to his cousin Andy Cano in December 1988, eight months before his parents’ murder, was introduced as evidence. In it, he discusses fears that his father would hurt him and that he fears his mother would not prevent it. The brothers’ legal team is hoping to show that they killed their parents, not for money but to stop the abuse.
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