Judge Judy -- P.I. Lawyer Fires Back ... I Wasn't Promoting Me, I Was Promoting You!

The personal injury lawyer who just got his ass sued by Judge Judy insists Judy's got her robe in a bunch for no reason -- telling TMZ, he wasn't using her image to promote himself ... he was using it to promote HER.

As we reported, Judy sued attorney John Haymond claiming he stole clips from her show to use in a commercial to promote his law firm -- but Haymond says that's just not the case.

He tells us, the commercial in question is actually for her OWN SHOW.

According to Haymond, the local ABC affiliate in New Haven, CT and NBC affiliate in Springfield recently asked Haymond -- a well-known personal injury lawyer in the area -- and his daughters to appear in the Judge Judy promo ... and he obliged.

Haymond says the promotions actually ran on the station several years ago, but recently stopped, and he's surprised the station isn't owning up. According to Haymond, "If the local affiliates would just release these Judge Judy Show promotions, everyone would see this is much ado about nothing."

What Haymond isn't addressing -- apparently Judy doesn't think he has the right to take old commercials targeted for her show and then slap them on his website long after the fact.