Case Arises Out of Settlement Reached With Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean.
Seems like lots of controversy as well as lawsuits arise out of beauty queen pageants. Also seems like celebrity lawsuits result in a lot of SLAPP motions. The next “in the news” item is no exception.
As reported by a January 17, 2011 post in The Beverly Hills Courier, a law firm defending the Miss California USA pageant has moved in Los Angeles County Superior Court to “SLAPP” a lawsuit brought by an attorney who represented Carrie Prejean, a Miss California USA stripped of her title putatively because she missed scheduled appearances and failed to repay a breast implant loan. The lawsuit basically alleges that Ms. Prejean’s attorney reduced his attorney’s fees in exchange for the pageant maintaining the secrecy of a settlement between the pageant and the beauty queen, where Ms. Prejean received nothing but her attorney received $110,000 in fees as part of the settlement. (Rumor has it that the case settled largely because the pageant officials had a sex tape of Ms. Prejean – see Larry King interview.)
The hearing on the motion is scheduled for February 17, so we assume that there will be a follow-up post unless matter, too, is confidentially resolved.
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