How do TV court shows work?
TV court shows are designed to look like dramatic trials, with bickering litigants and an often short-tempered judge, but they are actually private arbitration hearings. You can get money if you win your case, but you don’t have to pay if you lose.CasesTV courtroom shows find their cases in two ways. All of them solicit volunteers to have their disputes heard on TV. Some, such as “The People’s Court,” also have researchers look for interesting cases filed in small-claims courts.AgreementTo appear on a court show, the parties to a dispute must sign an agreement to drop the legal case–if one has even been filed–and abide by the TV judge’s ruling.ArbitrationWhat you see on TV is a binding arbitration hearing, essentially a private judicial proceeding. The arbitrator–the “judge” on the show–is free to rule any way she sees fit, and she is not bound by legal precedent.CompensationLitigants are usually paid an appearance fee.
