Lawsuit Exposes Ugly Side of Beauty Pageants : Courts: The Laguna Hills-based U.S.A. Petites claims false rumors that its contest was fixed were spread by American Petite officials. The organization is seeking $5 million in damages.

SANTA ANA —  The beauty business can get ugly, according to a $5-million defamation lawsuit filed Friday by a Laguna Hills beauty pageant which accuses a competitor of trying to steal its contestants.

U.S.A. Petites claims that agents for the American Petite Beauty Pageant tried to destroy its business by spreading false rumors that its contest in Las Vegas in 1992 was fixed.

“The rumors were flying everywhere--it got really ugly,” said Tami Millar of Illinois, a contestant in the U.S.A. Petites pageant in Las Vegas. “I was upset at first, but then I realized it was all lies. U.S.A. is a great organization.”

Cindy Zisk Salvo, president of the New Jersey-based American Petite Beauty Pageant, said Friday that the suit is groundless and that her organization never tried to undermine U.S.A. Petites. In fact, Salvo said, her organization has had problems with U.S.A. Petites trying to mimic her organization and giving it a bad name.

“Our pageant is fairer and less expensive, and our fear has always been that they are trying to make their pageant like ours,” said Salvo, who said she had not heard about the suit filed in Orange County Superior Court. “I’ve gotten calls from girls complaining about them, and I have to say, ‘No, no, you’ve got the wrong pageant.’ ”

Salvo said her organization draws contestants from across the country and does not need to resort to “stealing” contestants from other pageants.

Representatives for U.S.A. Petites could not be reached for comment Friday.

Beauty pageants for petite women, generally considered 5-foot-5 and under, draw contestants from around the country who pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars in the hopes that they will eventually make it from local to national competition.

Millar said that before the pageant, she was contacted by the rival group and told that U.S.A. Petites was a sham organization that lied to and cheated its contestants out of meals, money and the chance to be seen on national television.

She said she then received a typed complaint to the Illinois attorney general’s office--complete with her name--that included a diatribe of complaints about U.S.A. Petites. The letter was accompanied by a note from Salvo asking her to sign and mail it if she agreed.

Both letters are included in the lawsuit. Millar said she was offended that her name would be added to a letter without her consent.

“The letter made it sound like I made all these statements, and it wasn’t true,” said Millar, who said the greatest tragedy was that the rumors cast a shadow over the contest. “Usually, it’s so much fun backstage, with all the girls, but this time everyone kept talking about the rumors.”

Salvo stressed that she only asked contestants to sign and mail the letter if they agreed with the complaints. She said she wrote the letter and took the liberty of adding contestants’ names only because “some of these girls are not worldly enough to write a letter like that, so I helped them.”

The lawsuit, she agreed, points to just how competitive beauty pageants can get.

“I didn’t encourage complaints. In fact, I discouraged some lawsuits by telling the girls it would cost them more than they could ever get back.”

The lawsuit also includes a letter from a Los Angeles talent agent who claims that she was asked to judge the Las Vegas contest but concluded that the U.S.A. Petites pageant was fixed. The agent could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuit asserts that the U.S.A. Petites Pageant was not rigged, and Millar agrees.

“This is all so mean,” Millar said. “I’d be a contestant for U.S.A. again without even thinking twice. They’re great.”