Beauty queen wins appeal lawsuit

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

In its final judgment announced on Tuesday, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court denied businesswoman Dang Thuy Trang’s claims against Miss Grand International 2021 Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien regarding alleged debts and compensation for "damaging reputation," citing "lack of proof."

Trang sued Tien in November last year, claiming that the beauty pageant title winner had not paid her a 1.5-billion-dong debt that she said Tien borrowed in 2017 to prepare for her appearance in a beauty contest that same year.

Trang claimed Tien had signed a promissory note as proof she had borrowed the money, and accused the beauty pageant star of having torn up the document.

She thus demanded Tien pay her a total amount of VND2.4 billion in money owed and compensation. Trang also claimed she was owed a public apology.

The Go Vap District People’s Court tried the case in May this year.

Denying all of Trang’s claims by citing "lack of concrete evidence," the verdict was in Tien’s favor.

Trang subsequently filed an appeal at the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court.

During the appeal, Trang maintained her claims that she had given VND1.5 billion in cash to Tien, and that Tien had destroyed the promissory note.

Tien denied the claims, saying that she had indeed signed the note, but had not ended up receiving any money from Trang.

The trial panel concluded that Trang could not provide any evidence supporting the claim that she had indeed given the money to Tien, and thus denied that the beauty queen owed her any money.

Consequently, it also denied Trang’s demands for compensation and an apology from Tien, saying they were "groundless."

Ordering the judgment to take effect immediately, the court announced that Tien officially won the appeal suit.

Trang subsequently filed another appeal against the ruling.

Tien, 24, was crowned Miss Grand International 2021 in Bangkok, making her the first Vietnamese to win the beauty pageant.