Community Corner

Ex-Miss PA Sheena Monnin Launches Defense Fund, Says $5 Million Arbitration Isn't Final

The beauty queen from Cranberry also posts a new video explaining some of her actions—including why she called the Miss Universe organization "trashy."

Sheena Monnin, is continuing to fight back against the $5 million lawsuit Donald Trump filed against her last year after she claimed the Miss USA pageant was rigged.

This time, she’s saying the arbitration judgment made against her in December has yet to be confirmed.

“There was an arbitration judgment decision made on December 10th, 2012. The judgment was sent to the Southern District Court of New York to be affirmed,” she said in a statement to Patch. “The Miss Universe Organization (MUO) announced they had ‘won’ a $5 million judgment against me on December 18th. It is apparent that the MUO knew that the arbitration judgment had NOT been confirmed when they released the news to the public.”

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According to Monnin, the Trump-owned Miss Universe organization, which runs the Miss USA pageant, had up to a year to ask the court to affirm the judgment, but instead petitioned the court for an immediate ruling.

“I asked the MUO to agree to an extension so that I could properly respond to the judgment,” Monnin said. “The MUO denied my request.”

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Monnin said she also petitioned the court and has since been granted an extension. Her case will be presented to a judge Feb 5, she said.

“The case and all paperwork is posted online on the NY public docket (Southern District of NY District court Docket 12 Civ 09174),” she said. “There, it is clearly visible to all that the arbitration ruling has NOT been confirmed.” 

on her Sheena Monnin Support Facebook Page where she said her attorney told her she did not have to participate in mediation and that she was unaware the arbitration had taken place.

“The Miss Universe organization claimed that they mailed me a document with the arbitration hearing date in it,” she said. “I received no document. I was not notified than an arbitration hearing was proceeding.”

She also pleaded with the public for financial support in her upcoming legal battle against The Donald.

Today, Monnin said she has new legal representation. A legal defense fund also has been established to help her pay for her legal fees. She continues to post news and information about her case on the recently-launched Sheena Monnin Legal Defense Fund website.

“I am very happy to have recently secured new legal counsel so that I can fight this injustice,” she said.

Monnin added she is pleased by the support she has received so far through the site.

“The response to the defense fund has been very kind and generous,” she said Tuesday. “I'm so thankful for people who are joining me!”

A regular on the beauty circuit, Monnin made national headlines in June after she resigned as Miss Pennsylvania USA just days after the televised Miss USA 2012 pageant took place in Las Vegas. She then made a series of statements on her Facebook page that said the pageant was fixed.

Claiming a fellow contestant saw a list of the top five women in the pageant before judging began, Monnin also called the organization fraudulent, lacking in morals and trashy.

Trump took immediate legal action and also publicly branded Monnin,

In a new video on her website, Monnin addresses Trump’s comments about her. She also explains why she called the organization “trashy” in her resignation.

“It had nothing to do with the pageant show itself. It had to do with the mandatory attendance of the contestants to a private Vegas show,” she said in the video. “This show contained partial nudity, crude sexual humor, foul language and it was sexually explicit.”

She also accuses Miss Universe pageant of having double standards, adding the organization has strict rules regarding what kind of updates and photos the contestants may post about themselves online, including on Twitter and Facebook.

The Vegas show, where she said contestants were singled out and sexual jokes were made about them, showed a different side of the pageant.

“Many parts of this show were in direct violation of every form of decency that the Miss Universe says they would like to see in their titleholders,” she said. 

To learn what else Monnin had to say, including her stance on the text messages she shared with Pennsylvania state pageant director Randy Sanders that went public, click on the video above. 

Thoughts on Monnin’s legal battle? Tell us in the comment section below!


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