Miss Grand’s managers sued for alleged contract breach

The People’s Court of Binh Thanh District in Ho Chi Minh City accepted the lawsuit, which involves the alleged contract breach between the Nam An beauty clinic in the city and the Golden Lotus Advertising Commercial Company, on Thursday.

Nam An is suing Golden Lotus, which manages Phuong, in the lawsuit.

Nguyen Thi Nhu Lan, general director of Nam An, said that on March 17, her clinic and the Golden Lotus company signed a brand promotion contract worth VND10 billion. The two parties agreed that Nam An, as the organizer of Miss Grand 2023, would have the right for the winner of the competition to be the clinic’s brand ambassador for two years. After Phuong claimed the crown, she became the brand ambassador for Nam An, Lan said.

However, on Nov. 7, Lan said there was an online post showing the Facebook account of a male doctor, who is the director of a different beauty clinic in HCMC, on which Phuong’s Facebook account was tagged. Phuong allegedly reacted to the post and publicly commented: “Thank you for helping me get the perfect beauty and more confidence.”

Lan said that Phuong, as the brand ambassador of Nam An, had promoted the brand for another company in the same sector. It was a serious breach into the legal rights and interests of Nam An, she said.

As such, Nam An had sued Golden Lotus and requested the court to void the contract signed on March 17, forcing Golden Lotus to return the VND10 billion that Nam An had paid.

Responding to the lawsuit, Golden Lotus said that during the organization of the Miss Grand 2023 competition, as an organizer of the contest, the firm had fulfilled its duties with the Nam An clinic, including using the photos, documents, logo, name and information provided by Nam An to promote its image.

On Nov. 7, the aforementioned male director of the other clinic posted on his personal Facebook account content regarding Phuong as Miss Peace Vietnam 2023. But the image used in the post was taken on July 29, 2022, before Phuong participated in the Miss Grand 2023 contest, and before Golden Lotus managed her.

As such, Golden Lotus claimed that the incident was the personal responsibility of Phuong and the male director, and what happened did not involve the contract that Golden Lotus signed with Nam An. The fact that Nam An believed Golden Lotus violated their contract and requested the contract to be voided, without any evidence to prove it, was a violation of the commitments from both parties. Organizers have had meetings with Nam An to resolve issues in the spirit of friendship, but Nam An took the matter to the court, Golden Lotus said.

The general director of Nam An said the clinic had removed certain outdoor advertisements and deleted all articles, images and videos involving Phuong. Representatives of the clinic had worked with Golden Lotus twice to negotiate and find the best option for both sides, but Golden Lotus wanted to compensate the clinic with only VND1 billion, something Nam An did not accept.