Miss Grand International wins lawsuit

Miss Grand International 2021 Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien. Photo from Tien’s Instagram

In November 2022, businesswoman Dang Thuy Trang filed a lawsuit against Tien demanding the beauty queen pay the total amount (worth around $102,000) in money owed, damages caused, and compensation.

However, the court ruled against all the claimant’s demands on Wednesday.

Trang had claimed that in June 2017, Tien had asked to borrow VND1.5 billion from her.

Trang said Tien had asked for the money to help with preparations for her appearance in the Miss Southern Vietnam 2017 contest.

According to Trang, Tien promised to pay the money back in full after one year.

Trang, 36, asked her friend Nguyen Quan Trong to sign a promissory note for the loan on her behalf because she feared she wouldn’t be able to collect the debt on her own.

However, when the promissory note expired, Tien did not repay the money as promised, Trang claimed.

On top of that, Trang accused Tien of slandering her reputation in newspaper articles that quoted Tien as saying that Trang had forced her to sign the promissory note without giving her the money.

Consequently, Trang sued Tien for a total of VND2.4 billion, including VND1.5 billion for the loan, VND932 million in compensation for loss of earnings, and VND14.9 million for non-economic damages.

She also demanded that Tien admit to providing false information about her to the media, and issue a public apology in three different newspapers.

Tien then counter-sued Trang for tarnishing her reputation with false claims, and for using her image without permission.

She asked Trang to remove online posts that libelled her reputation, admit to providing giving false information about her, issue an apology, and give her VND387 million in compensation for both economic and non-economic damages.

Tien said that she had indeed signed the promissory note, however, she did not get the money as promised from Trang.

On Wednesday, Tien’s legal representative withdrew their counter lawsuit.

Trang’s lawyers also withdrew their claims for compensation on loss of earnings, but preserved claims about the owed money and the compensation for non-economic damages.

During the legal process, Trong said he did not lend money to Tien, nor did he transfer his right to collect the debt to Trang.

The court concluded that Trang could not provide any evidence of her lending money to Tien, except for her deposition and the promissory note, on which the person who signed the note was Trong, not her.

The court was thus convinced that there was no concrete evidence proving that Tien really owed money to Trang.

Regarding Trang’s claims about false information, the court decided that Tien had the right to give interviews to the press.

The court stated that if Trang had a problem with what was printed about her, she should have taken it up with the press instead of Tien.

Thus, the court also refuted Trang’s demand for compensation for non-economic damages.

Regarding Trang’s demand for a public apology from Tien, the court regarded her claims as ungrounded as well.

In summary, the court refuted all of Trang’s claims laid out in her lawsuit.

Tien, 24, was crowned the 2021 Miss Grand International in Bangkok, becoming the first Vietnamese to win the beauty pageant. After the contest, she became known for her charity projects and other volunteer activities.