Miss USA contestant who claimed pageant was fixed fined $5 million
NEW YORK (AP) - A beauty queen who claimed this year's Miss USA contest was fixed has been ordered to pay the pageant organization $5 million for defamation.
In a decision signed last week, an arbitrator found that the comments from Miss Pennsylvania USA Sheena Monnin were false, harmful and malicious. Monnin had alleged that the five finalists had been selected in advance of the pageant's live telecast.
The arbitrator, Theodore Katz, said Monnin had two motives: "She was a disgruntled contestant who failed to make it past the preliminary competition" and she objected to the pageant's decision to allow transgender contestants. He wrote that the way the contest is judged "precludes any reasonable possibility that the judging was rigged."
Monnin, of Cranberry, Pa., resigned her state title after the pageant. Her allegations on Facebook and NBC's "Today" show cost the pageant a $5 million fee from a potential 2013 sponsor, Katz said.
Monnin's lawyer, Richard Klineburger III, had no comment on the decision, his office said.
Katz said Monnin agreed to arbitrate any disputes when she became a Miss USA contestant, but he wrote in his decision that she and her lawyer didn't participate in the process and claimed they were not required to do so.
The winner of the Miss USA pageant, Rhode Island's Olivia Culpo, competes Wednesday in the Miss Universe pageant.
In a decision signed last week, an arbitrator found that the comments from Miss Pennsylvania USA Sheena Monnin were false, harmful and malicious. Monnin had alleged that the five finalists had been selected in advance of the pageant's live telecast.
The arbitrator, Theodore Katz, said Monnin had two motives: "She was a disgruntled contestant who failed to make it past the preliminary competition" and she objected to the pageant's decision to allow transgender contestants. He wrote that the way the contest is judged "precludes any reasonable possibility that the judging was rigged."
Monnin, of Cranberry, Pa., resigned her state title after the pageant. Her allegations on Facebook and NBC's "Today" show cost the pageant a $5 million fee from a potential 2013 sponsor, Katz said.
Monnin's lawyer, Richard Klineburger III, had no comment on the decision, his office said.
Katz said Monnin agreed to arbitrate any disputes when she became a Miss USA contestant, but he wrote in his decision that she and her lawyer didn't participate in the process and claimed they were not required to do so.
The winner of the Miss USA pageant, Rhode Island's Olivia Culpo, competes Wednesday in the Miss Universe pageant.
pageant smageant- who gives a dingleberry
5 Million? I'm all for getting some justice when you have defamation, but this is a little ridiciulous. It's not like they'll ever see a dime of that money.
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 @HarryJuku ""She was a disgruntled contestant who failed to make it past the preliminary competition" and she objected to the pageant's decision to allow transgender contestants".  Are you sure she isn't a he?
I'll bet she's even more fixed than the pageant.
I bet she wishes she'd kept her mouth shut.
There is something wrong in this world, where Donald Trump is owed 5 million for the truth and The Westboro Baptist Church is not labeled a terrorist/hate group. What is wrong with people. Side boob x2
She looks more plastic than a Tupperware food container.
..never thought of Tupperware ever giving me wood...*^*
I'm only here for the side-boob.
 @JTesla You know, they have hormone available now so that you can grow your own. Then you can spend all day and night oogling yourself and playing with them, and no one will be any the wiser!
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Just sayin'