Series / Hot Bench

Three judges. Three opinions. One verdict. Hot Bench.

Hot Bench is an American courtroom series produced by Queen Bee Productions and Big Ticket Television and syndicated across North America by CBS. It is created by Judge Judy Sheindlin, and features a panel of not one, not two, but three judges (Michael Corriero, Yodit Tewolde and Rachel Juarez), the first courtroom show of its type. (The original three judges, Tanya Acker, Patricia DiMango, and Larry Bakman, as well as Corriero, who succeeded Bakman, were all hand-picked by Sheindlin.) Each judge hears the plaintiff and defendant’s side of the story, then the judges retire to chambers to deliberate. At least two of the three judges must agree on the winner of a case and on what amount, if any, to award the winner. The bailiff is Sonia Montejano, who served in the same capacity on another Big Ticket series, Judge Joe Brown, from 2006 until its 2013 end. Judge Judy herself has appeared as a guest judge on a few episodes (joining Acker and DiMango), as has her husband Jerry Sheindlin, who presided over The People's Court from 1999-2001.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, the set was modified to accommodate social distancing; the judges now stay at the bench to deliberate, and the parties are excused while this happens.

Hot Bench returned for its eighth season on September 13, 2021, despite the cancellation of its "sister" show Judge Judy.

In April 2022, it was announced that Judges Acker and DiMango would be following Judge Judy Sheindlin onto Amazon's Freevee streaming service, to star on a new Sheindlin-helmed courtroom series called Tribunal. The new show will also feature a panel of three judges, consisting of Acker, DiMango and Sheindlin's son Adam Levy, with Petri Hawkins-Byrd, formerly of Judge Judy, reprising his bailiff role. They were replaced by Yodit Tewolde and Rachel Juarez in the ninth season.

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Hot Bench contains examples of the following:

• Actually Pretty Funny: One case features a defendant who made himself threatening in order to creatively evict the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs entered a voice message into evidence wherein the defendant is expressing vitriol against the plaintiffs' pet iguana (believing that improper disposal of the iguana's feces causes their chickens to become sick), at one point viciously calling it a gecko. Despite the voice message being evidence toward the defendant's hot-headed outbursts, all three judges are visibly elated with the message itself and proceed to rib the defendant over leveling death threats against the iguana.
• Artistic License – Medicine: One defendant, when the plaintiff asserts that not even her accent is real (the defendant being accused of fraud), the defendant responds that she has MS and having a "British" accent is a result of the speech therapy she is receiving. While MS can affect speech, MS causes telegraphic speech (wherein the patient chooses words akin to Buffy Speak rather than a regular adult's vocabulary), not a change in accent. For proof, the plaintiff provides a message the defendant sent her, during which the defendant speaks in an American accent that doesn't even show evidence of telegraphic speech.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Among the three judges, Corriero is relatively level-headed and tends to be sympathetic with people who have had a rough time. This does not mean, however, that he doesn't get angry, especially with people who admit that they have been cheating the system or abusing others. Judges Acker and DiMango could be quite a bit harsher (as was Corriero's predecessor, Larry Bakman).
• Brooklyn Rage: Judge DiMango was a much milder example compared to her counterpart and fellow Brooklyn native Judge Judy, as DiMango tended to crack jokes at the litigants' expense more often than lose her temper, but it did show sometimes, particularly with the most odious litigants or with a litigant who was lying or otherwise disrespecting the court. Unlike Judge Judy, who is Jewish and of Eastern European descent, DiMango is Italian-American. She never quite got to Rambunctious Italian territory, however.
• Can't Get Away with Nuthin': One early case involved a plaintiff who accused a former friend of using her credit card without permission. She claimed she had been severely depressed due to her mother's death, and asked her friend to use the card to get her some medication; instead, the defendant amassed nearly $10,000 in unauthorized charges, including nearly $8,000 worth of Uber rides. Judges Acker and DiMango both had very harsh words for the defendant, but Judge Bakman^note This case was before Judge Corriero joined the show went further, pointing out that the plaintiff could prosecute the defendant for wire fraud - a federal charge punishable by up to a year in federal prison - since the defendant had used the credit card for online purchases. The judges unanimously awarded the plaintiff their maximum of $5,000, and encouraged the plaintiff to follow Judge Bakman's advice.
• Da Chief: In one case, the Plaintiff's witness was the Chief of Police. The three judges were very surprised to find out that the head of the police department was in their court room. The case was about the sale of a used car, which in the end turned out that the Defendant was the victim of a scam, as she brought the car from a dealership that was making false license plates, and sold the car to the Plaintiff without knowing about the phony license plates. The Plaintiff then got pulled over by the police after buying the car. The Chief said that he would work with the Defendant to find the dealership and start an investigation.
• Deadpan Snarker: Judge Acker has her moments, but Judge DiMango lives here.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Larry Bakman was a judge for the first two seasons before leaving in 2016, being replaced by Michael Corriero.
  • Judge DiMango's early hairstyle was quite similar to that of current The People's Court judge Marilyn Milian.
• Get Out!: Like Judge Judy, the judges won't tolerate litigants who blatantly disrespect the proceedings and will have bailiff Sonia take said litigants out of the courtroom. Unless the litigants don't like the way the case is going and excuse themselves first.
  Judge Acker: [to a litigant who is interrupting her] Say another word!
  Defendant: Word.
  Judge Acker: Get OUT of my courtroom!
• Gratuitous Spanish: Bailiff Sonia Montejano is Mexican by birth, and occasionally serves as an interpreter or translator for Spanish-speaking litigants or evidence written in Spanish.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Acker is easily the first to raise her voice when a litigant is lying, being evasive, or being stupid. However, Judge Bakman was easily the harshest of the three during his time on the show.
• Insane Troll Logic: Some litigants use this to justify themselves. It never works:
  • One case featured tenants who wanted to remove the roommates they were renting to because of two issues. One, the tenants (defendants) had placed a camera in a common area and indicated that, at a time where no one else should have been up, there is a mysterious shadow passing in front of the camera. The defendant claimed that it was an evil spirit or ghost (rather than the mundane, such has his dog wandering around). Two, the tenants believed that one roommate was using magic on their dog to make the dog like her. Naturally, neither the plaintiffs nor the judges really understood how the male defendant had arrived at those conclusions.
  • A particularly Sore Loser accused the show of sexism during a 2019 post-case interview, claiming that it was caused by the panel consisting of two women and one man, despite having no other proof to back it up.
• Instrumental Theme Tune: The narration notwithstanding.
• Lighter and Softer: With regard to the judges themselves, they're all quite a bit Lighter and Softer than their show's creator. Even Judge Judy herself was this on her guest appearances following the departure of Judge Bakman and before the hiring of Judge Corriero.
• Once an Episode:
  Judge DiMango: [to the audience, at the start of each show] Please be seated. The witnesses may sit as well.
  Judge Acker or Corriero: [upon receiving the case file from the bailiff] Thank you, Officer Montejano.
  Judge DiMango: [before the judges retire to chambers] We're going to retire to deliberate.
  Rino Romano or Christopher Thomas (Announcer): Want justice? [Or: "Have you been cheated?" "Are you the victim of an assault?" etc.] Go to HotBench.TV. Like us on Facebook. And follow us on Twitter.
  Baliff Sonia Montejano [at the end of a case/when the judges retire to chambers] This Courtroom is now in recess. [at the start of an additional case] ''Case # _______ on the calendar _________ vs _______ & _________ please

step forward''

• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: One plaintiff accused the defendant of fraud and theft and, at one point, says that the defendant's British accent is not her real accent. The plaintiff offers up a phone message in which the victim is speaking in a decidedly American accent, and the defendant can be heard slipping up while speaking in a slow, stereotypical British accent.
• Point-and-Laugh Show: Like on its parent show, a lot of stupid people come on this show attempting to fool the judges. In the end, they look like fools on national TV.
• Quit Your Whining: Judge DiMango in particular has next to zero patience for tears and histrionics, as she immediately reminds litigants who try to pull this to gain sympathy or play the victim. She's much more patient with litigants who cry because they are legitimate victims through no fault of their own.
• Recycled Title: The working title for Judge Judy back in 1996 was Hot Bench with Judge Judy Sheindlin. Sheindlin initially wasn't happy when the decision was made to retitle her show simply Judge Judy, but got used to it. However, she held on to the title Hot Bench and got to reuse it nearly two decades later.
• Rotating Protagonist: The order in which the judges grill the litigants varies depending on who goes first: if Acker goes first, Corriero always goes last; if DiMango goes first, Acker always goes last; if Corriero goes first, DiMango always goes last. The judge who goes first always gets to deliver the verdict following deliberation, even if he or she dissented from the other two judges' opinion.
• Shout-Out:
  Judge Acker: [when a litigant denies responsibility for an action of which the judges believe the litigant is guilty] Well, maybe Mr. Snuffleupagus did it.
• Sinister Minister: An early case during the Judge Bakman era involved a woman who was suing a preacher for reneging on an agreement to host one of her fashion shows at his home. The preacher was arrogant, smug and continually tried to talk over the judges. Judge Acker in particular was not having it and let loose with a Reason You Suck Speech, informing him that she and her colleagues were not to be intimidated. As if that weren't enough, text messages from the minister entered into evidence were filled with the "n" word (both litigants were Black), which further infuriated Judge Acker (who is also Black). The defendant's conduct was so outrageous that the judges awarded the plaintiff $5,000 - even though she hadn't provided $5,000 worth of evidence - without even deliberating first.
• Two Girls and a Guy: The panel includes two female judges and one male. The Season Nine panel is also racially diverse, with a white male judge (Corriero), a Black female (Tewolde), and a Latina (Juarez).