Television's "Judge Judy" Sheindlin is suing the National Enquirer and InTouch Weekly after the publications ran stories in April claiming that she was working to get a retrial for the Menendez brothers who were convicted of murdering their parents in 1989.
Sheindlin filed the lawsuit in Florida on Monday against the Accelerate360, the parent company of the Enquirer and InTouch, Law&Crime reported.
The headline on the article published on InTouch's website on April 10 said, "Inside Judge Judy's Quest to Save the Menendez Brothers Nearly 35 Years After Their Parents' Murder."
A version of the story also ran in the Enquirer, according to the report.
"Sensational, headline-grabbing copy? To be sure. Accurate? No," Sheindlin said in the 20-page lawsuit, Law&Crime reported. "As a judge's stock in trade is her reputation, these defamations are especially damaging in that they strike at the heart of Judge Sheindlin's good reputation."
Sheindlin, who claimed she had nothing to say about the Menendez brothers, did not ask for specific damages, but it's expected to be expensive.
"When you fabricate stories about me in order to make money for yourselves with no regard for the truth or the reputation I've spent a lifetime cultivating, it's going to cost you," she said in a statement, the Associated Press reported.
"When you've done it multiple times, it's unconscionable and will be expensive. It has to be expensive so that you will stop," it said.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted of killing their parents - Joe and Kitty Menendez - in their Beverly Hills home. They are serving life sentences.
