They ended up paying her $400 after all was said and done. My girlfriend didn't want to do it at first when we got the mail, but I rightfully convinced her to go. Not only were they offering basically a "get out of sued free card" they wanted to pay her to do so! Thankfully she called and spoke with a producer who helped us further everything. The producer asked her a bunch of questions about the case. Then asked her what she looked like. My girlfriend is blonde with blue eyes and white(which was exactly what they wanted I guess lol). They told us that they had saw this case and contacted both parties to see if we could participate.
After a few calls back and forth we finally got a day set. They sent us taxi fair and put us up in the Beverly Garland hotel. It was my girlfriend, her mom, and I that all went. Her mom came along because she actually witnessed the account. I went along cause I couldn't pass up a chance to get on Judge Judy haha. Well when it came time to gather her pictures and evidence on how small the bite was, I guess the phone that had the pictures broke(women and their phones..). So we had no pictures or anything to back us up. I told her to bring pictures of her dog and at least show to Judy how innocent and small this dog truly was. I thought that was better than nothing.
We spent a beautiful night in an amazing hotel, then the following morning was picked up and taken to the studio. We were brought to a green room of sorts that only consisted of defendants. One guy had literally just gotten off the plane and brought here, just to catch the next flight back out as soon taping was done. The producers met with all of us, then each defendant individually to go over what would be said. The lady that was helping us was really cool. She said that she had met the old lady and agreed it was ridiculous what she was doing. The producers then told us that there were a few VERY important rules. One of them being(and surprisingly super important) was to not make Judy feel vain. Basically she said to not have Judge repeat anything or talk to low for her to hear. I guess Judy doesn't like to acknowledge her age and gets really upset when someone makes her do so. They couldn't stress this enough, and said if she did make Judy feel vain in any way..she would likely just send our case back to the courts and be done with us. Other rules were just don't speak unless spoken too and such. The producer told my girlfriends to play the dumb blonde role. Meaning, roll her eyes a lot and just be basically a dumb girl. They said this would be better and make for a better show. They told her to answer questions like "Why did the dog bite her?" with "because she was evil". Likes seriously how stupid did they expect my girlfriend to act on national television?
When it came time to tape, they paid her mom and I $5 cash on the spot for being witnesses. Not sure why they had to do this, but bought me a pack of cigs so I didn't complain lol. So in case you were wondering the entire audience is paid actors. They are paid like $50 for an entire day of taping. The reason they use actors is because they are easier to control and I guess tried it with general public before and it didn't work. So we were mic'ed up and her mom and I took our seats in the witness chairs. My girlfriend was asked to walk in and do the usual entrance if you have ever seen the show. The case started and all I have to say is Judge Judy is a complete BITCH. I mean she's a bitch for no reason and just doesn't give a fuck. She treated my girlfriend like a child and at one point straight up told her "I just don't believe you, so there." Like straight child shit, I kid you not. Her mom was called up to the stand and they went back and forth with the lady and Judy. The entire time I was holding my breath, scared that Judy may ask me a question about the incident. Like I said, I didn't even know her at the time of this and lied just to be part of the show. Well sure enough at one point Judy asks my girlfriend who I am(she thought I was her brother) and my girl says proudly "that's my boyfriend detouraheads". Let's just say at that very moment my heart dropped into my stomach and every single camera turned to me. I had absolutely nothing to say..and thankfully they just kept talking and ignored me.
In the end she ended up awarding the lady $1500 for damages and shit. You can watch the episode online I'm sure, where you can see details I left out. After she talked with Judy they pulled her aside and did the "after court" discussion. Just asked how she felt about the outcome and stuff like that.
Well after the whole experience about a month or so later she received the check in the mail for $400 and everything else was paid by the studio. It was a cool experience, and I'm happy it happened because my girlfriend is one of those people who just ignores things thinking they'll go away..and she would have ignored this lady and ended up owning a lot of money.
When we saw the episode I thought the entire time they would probably cut my 5 seconds of fame out, but nope..they kept it. And funny enough I've actually had multiple people recognize me from the show and friends message me saying they saw me. Blew me away cause I didn't think anyone even watched the show anymore.
I guess after our taping or something Judy stopped filming for some time or something like that. If you are interested in finding the episode it should be titled "10lb Maltese attack!"
Sorry for the late and shitty typed reply. Did this all on my phone and it's 3:30am here. If there's more questions feel free to ask and I'll try and answer everything I can to the best of my knowledge.
tl;dr Judge Judy experience.