The People's Court - Paid from a fund?

Factual Questions
1

I ask this here in General Questions because, although it relates to a TV show, this discussion has nothing to do with the show’s artistic merit or value as entertainment (IMHO, the show in question has little of the former, but plenty of the latter). Mods, if you must move this to Cafe Society, I’ll understand.

We have a group of four people who gather and watch The People’s Court at noon on their lunch break. I frequently join them, and we often have lengthy discussions about the cases as they unfold.

One thing that frequently comes up is the mention that the litigants are "paid from a fund’ for their appearances. Naturally, when one party wins a monetary settlement, the other party must forfeit what he was paid from the fund as part of this settlement, and then make up the rest out of his own pocket.

We were wondering - just how much is this payment from “the fund?” Are litigants paid a flat amount regardless of claim (set to match the common Small Claims statutory limit of $5000), or are they paid proportionately? Are expenses paid? Does the show provide transportation or lodging?

Please tell me that out of the thousands of bright minds we have here on the SDMB that someone has first- or second-hand experience with this and might know (or even be able to find) the answer. I’d like to fight some ignorance today.

2

The size of the fund depends on the amount of the suit. It’s the amount of the suit plus a bit more, something like a couple hundred bucks.

The award comes from the fund and what is left over is split between the parties. If the plaintiff gets all they are asking for, they get that plus half of the remainder and the defendant gets a little bit. If the plaintiff loses, they split the whole fund equally.

You can’t really lose on the People’s Court.

3

From the Wikipedia entry on TPC:

It sounds as though they are paid a separate “appearance fee”, independent of the “judgement”.