February 8, 2013

Beauty pageant contestant ordered to pay Donald Trump $5 million.

Former Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin inopportunely asserted that the Miss USA pageant was "rigged."

34 comments:

campy said...

It was a joke!

lemondog said...

He needs the money.

BTW she does not appear naturally beautiful.....every about her looks to manufactured, too....'rigged.'

lemondog said...

everyTHING

Shouting Thomas said...

Didn't Trump initially give this girl the opportunity to recant her statements? I believe he offered to withdraw his suit if she did, and she refused.

David said...

Trump gets publicity all the time by making outrageous statements. He is a public figure. Where are the free speech rights? Was this case evaluated under NYT v. Sullivan standards? Should be.

Tank said...

David

She did not comment about Trump (I don't think, not really paying attention).

She stated that the USA Pageant was rigged. Assuming that is a false statement of fact causing the Pageant financial damage, that's defamation, what it's all about. Has nothing to do with Trump being a publicity hound, birther, or whatever.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure she can make arrangement to work it off with Trump.

Unknown said...

She could get a start on paying her judgement by selling that bib necklace. I was going to ask what one would wear with a gigantic necklace like those on the other thread. I guess this is the answer.

Shouting Thomas said...

She don't look so hot in a bikini. I can see why she lost.

garage mahal said...

Trump is like a patent troll.

Colonel Angus said...

So what did she do wrong that she has to pay $5 million? Because I wasn't aware posting your sour grapes online was an actionable event.

SteveR said...

"Don't devastate me"

umm yeah ok

Colonel Angus said...

She don't look so hot in a bikini. I can see why she lost.

She's a bit on the harder looking side in the face but I think she has a pretty nice body.

Anonymous said...

She stated that the USA Pageant was rigged. Assuming that is a false statement of fact causing the Pageant financial damage, that's defamation, what it's all about.

Why do you assume it was a false statement. There is no indication that the truth or the falsity of the statement was ever seriously examined.

Tank said...

Freder

I'm not assuming it. That's why I conditioned my comment on that phrase.

Bryan C said...

“This is f———ing rigged Randy. Seriously Colorado? South Carolina?” Monnin texted, according to her court papers. “I”m done . . . It’s obviously rigged so the girls they want can shine.”

That's not sour grapes. Those are pretty specific allegations. They were repeated by the media almost immediately and given some weight because she claimed to have inside information.

Why would she not be liable for defamation? I don't think it's nice or smart for Trump to pursue this, but it seems that's up to him and his lawyers.

Wince said...

Former Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin...

Trump: Oh yea, Sheena gonna be moanin'.

ErnieG said...

I'm sure that these things are not rigged, and neither is professional wrestling.

edutcher said...

Put it on the Internet if you're a public person, and you may have to live with it.

Chip S. said...

A gross miscarriage of justice.

Judge didn't understand that "rigged" means "won by the most skilled fellatrix".

Sam L. said...

Good luck collecting that from her.

Or, not so good.

William said...

Won't she just file for bankruptcy? Also, are you allowed to rig a patently commercial endeavour like the Miss USA contest? It's not like it's the Miss America contest.

Anonymous said...

Isn't 27 a little old for that pageant?

bagoh20 said...

I thought that saying something that was just part of being the loser in any judged contest. It's tradition!

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

Next Challenge: To prove he is not the spawn of an orangutan. That will be a little tougher.

Hey wait! I'm just kidding! I take it back Donald.

Methadras said...

That is one good looking woman. Wow.

donald said...

I agree Methadras.

Wow!

Anonymous said...

She looks like a movie star from a former time - Jane Russell? Joan Crawford? Someone like that. Square jaw or something.

Anonymous said...

A bit of Priscilla Presley or Linda Evangelista? I can't put my finger on who she looks like, but like 20-something Drew Barrymore looked like she was from the 1920s, and Catherine Zeta Jones looked like she was from the Ann Margaret era, Miss U.S. looks likes she's from another time.

Dante said...

So again, this bit of law is confusing to me. Let's go from the assumption it is rigged, but the chick couldn't cough up the evidence.

Later the evidence surfaces that was indeed rigged. And any of her other claims.

What happens?

It seems the chick is wrong if she can't prove her assertions, and ought to be liable. But on the other hand, if she was right all along, there is another wrong going on here.

Confusing to me. What's the law say?

Crunchy Frog said...

She looks like a movie star from a former time - Jane Russell? Joan Crawford? Someone like that. Square jaw or something.

Courtney Cox, with the new rack.

Gene said...

Why do you assume it was a false statement. There is no indication that the truth or the falsity of the statement was ever seriously examined.

Truth is an absolute defense. If she had any evidence the Pageant was rigged her attorneys certainly would have offered it at trial. Whatever it was, it apparently wasn't enough to convince the judge.

What she should have done is not assert what she claimed was fact but instead give her opinion--"This is the lousiest half-assed operation I've ever been involved in."

Joe said...

I know two women who competed, one fairly successfully, in pageants. Both said they were rigged; it was tacitly understood what the pecking order was among contestants and that political correctness* of the day trumped (pun intended) everything. In other words, once you were involved in these things, you pretty much knew who was going to win.

*If there was any scandal, the pageant would immediately shuffle the top of the pecking order, promoting "safe" contestants.

**Some people apparently don't realize that the celebrity judge thing is largely a ruse. Most decisions are made my lifers in the pageant structure, which has a pecking order all its own.