RALEIGH - The state Court of Appeals has rejected Rebekah Revels' request for a new hearing in her court fight that began after she lost her Miss North Carolina crown because of a photograph of her topless.
The court ruled Tuesday that a lower court properly granted the motion to force arbitration in the case and that the ruling of the arbitrator should stand.
“In the legal system ... you just have to accept things as they are,” Revels said. “You cannot feel defeated. You just have to accept the way that things happen and turn out and leave it to the people who are put in the position to make the decisions they make.
“I feel happy that I've gone forth with everything that I've done. The outcome is what it is. I can't change it, but I'm definitely glad that I've taken steps that I've taken.”
The St. Pauls native declined to say whether she would appeal to the state Supreme Court. Attorney Ken Carlson, who represents the Miss North Carolina Pageant Organization, said his client was pleased with the ruling.
Revels' lawsuit against the state organization was dismissed in May 2004 after Revels refused an arbitrator's repeated orders to turn over the photographs that led to her removal as the state's reigning beauty queen. Her lawyer, Barry Nakell, argued to the court last month that his client was right to keep the photographs private.
Lawyers for the pageant organization said letting their clients see the photographs could help them determine whether Revels knew her picture was being made, which would violate a morality clause in her pageant contract.
Revels won the Miss North Carolina pageant in June 2002, but resigned under pressure from pageant officials after a former boyfriend, Tosh Welch, contacted Miss America pageant officials to say he had topless photos of her. Revels later sued to be reinstated.
Runner-up Misty Clymer assumed the title.
Nakell estimated in 2004 that Revels lost at least $30,000 in prizes, appearance fees and other income when she lost the crown. Revels got a court order in 2002 to get the photos from Welch, and she won an $11,000 judgment against him in 2004. Her lawsuit against the state pageant was sent to an independent arbitrator despite Revels' objections. Revels wanted a jury trial in Robeson County.
The arbitrator ordered Revels to produce the photos as evidence, but she refused. The arbitrator halted the case and ruled against her.
Revels asked Wake County Superior Court Judge Narley Cashwell to overturn the arbitrator's decision. He refused. She took the case to the Court of Appeals, and its three-judge panel unanimously decided that Cashwell made the correct decision.
Revels also participated in the Miss World pageant in 2002 and now is involved in a breach of contract claim against that pageant. Revels, who lives in Atlanta, said she is involved in jewelry sales and is working on a career in modeling, singing and acting.
Source: http://www.robesonian.com/articles/2006/03/23/news/news/story04.txt
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