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Former Miss Pennsylvania, Sheena Monnin is in the headlines again, but this time it’s not for blaming the Miss USA contest, but for blaming her lawyer Richard Klineburger III and his firm, Klineburger & Nussey.
On Thursday, Monnin sued her lawyer alleging that her loss in the arbitration between her and the Miss USA pageant was due to the “inept representation” by the lawyer.
According to court documents, after Sheena vented her feelings about the Miss USA contest publicly, alleging the contest to be “rigged,” Klineburger had contacted her and offered his services through Facebook in an unsolicited message.
At the time, the media storm over Monin’s comment was raging in all its fury, and Monnin had already given up her title of Miss Pennsylvania, while lawyers of the Miss Universe pageant had threatened to sue her for damages.
In fact they claimed damages amounting to $10 million for defaming the pageant.
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Originally, Klineburger offered his service free of charge, but later made a deal to claim a third of any award Monnin won in the matter.
Monnin says that the lawyer’s representation was negligent and reckless, and he didn’t even bother to read the Miss Universe contract she had signed.
The contract clearly mentions that any disputes between participants and the Miss Universe organizers are subject to binding arbitration in New York.
Her lawsuit alleges that despite the clause of binding arbitration in her contract, Klineburger told her not to take part in the arbitration proceedings and “that she did not need to respond to any of [the arbitrator’s] correspondence, that she was not subject to any arbitration agreement with Miss Univese, and that she need not participate in any arbitration proceeding….”
So, Monnin ended up missing the arbitration and without any representation in the proceedings where Miss Universe owners had a $5 million ex-parte order issued against her for damages.
According to Monnin, after Klineburger found out about the arbitration award, he distanced himself from the matter and wrote her a letter explaining that he was not qualified to practice in New York and “Therefore, I cannot give you advice on this arbitration matter.”
