Beauty queen to pay part prize money to promoter

A BEAUTY contestant who won the 2013 Miss Jamzone International pageant has been ordered to pay her promoter 25 per cent of her US$10,000 prize.

Justice Frank Seepersad made the order in a lawsuit Elite Productions director Patrice Melissa Valentine filed against Breige Wilson, who won the competition in Guyana.

In a claim for breach of contract, Valentine’s attorney Rondell Donawa argued that Wilson ended the contract prematurely by refusing to participate in Miss Caribe Hibiscus and the Miss International Carnival Queen pageants. She claimed recoverable expenses of $50,990.46.

Wilson’s defence was that Valentine’s lawsuit was filed after the four-year statutory limitation.She won the pageant on August 21, 2013 and the lawsuit against her was filed on August 25, 2017.

In a ruling last year, Seepersad threw out Valentine’s case on the four-year statute of limitation ground, holding that Valentine’s claim was filed four days late.

In most civil cases in the High Court, a person has four years to file.

Donawa appealed, however, and Justices Nolan Bureaux, Peter Jamadar and Charmaine Pemberton ruled the matter was still within the statutory time and remitted the case for hearing before Seepersad.

Seepersad then ruled that Wilson must pay Valentine 25 per cent of the prize plus her legal costs. The judge did not award Valentine damages.

He said that there was no written contract between the parties, and besides, he added, Wilson had told Valentine she had examinations in December 2013 and was scheduled to attend York University in January 2014.

Seepersad commented, "In the circumstances, there was no breach of contract. The attitude of the defendant and her commitment to her education has to be applauded and her placing studies above pageantry is commendable."