"I Swear, if You Don't Drop Out of Miss Pennsylvania, I Will Come to Your Home and Set It on Fire"

"I don't even care if you or your mom are inside. I actually hope you are. You both deserve to die. I am going to kill you, Robyn. I don't understand why you don't get that. I will burn you. You will die."

A short excerpt from Judge Julia Munley's long decision last month in Vespico v. Kass-Gerji (M.D. Pa.) (note that the quote from the title and the subtitle is from the court opinion, which in turn cites a transcript of an anti-stalking order hearing):

Each June, the Miss Pennsylvania competition is held in York at the Appell Center for the Performing Arts. The winner goes on to represent the Commonwealth in the Miss America pageant. Leading up to the 2024 competition, what may have started as a backstage rivalry escalated into something uglier.

According to Defendant Robyn Kass-Gerji, it was the plaintiff, Victoria Vespico, whose conduct went beyond the pale. Kass-Gerji claims she was subjected to months of harassing text messages and threats against her life. According to Kass-Gerji, Vespico also threatened to kill her mother, her boyfriend, and her dog.

Vespico tells a very different story. She insists that she never sent a single message and paints Kass-Gerji as the true aggressor. That is, Vespico describes Kass-Gerji as someone willing to fabricate evidence, file a fraudulent petition for a protection order, and lie under oath.

Days before the contestants took the stage at the Miss Pennsylvania pageant, a hearing was convened—not before a pageant director, but a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The subject matter was credibility, not congeniality.

After listening to both sides over the course of a two-day hearing, the judge ruled in favor of Kass-Gerji and issued an anti-stalking order ("ASO") against Vespico. The judge concluded that Vespico was not believable and that she had sent the threatening texts. He determined that Kass-Gerji was not lying or fabricating evidence.

Vespico, however, stands firm. She points to Kass-Gerji's conduct after obtaining the ASO as signs that the defendant made it all up to get attention—withdrawing from Miss Pennsylvania, sitting for a TV interview with a local news affiliate during the pageant, and sharing details about the texts and legal proceedings with a British tabloid journalist.

The tabloid involved was the Daily Mail. After the curtain fell on the 2024 Miss Pennsylvania pageant, the Mail published an article: "Miss Pennsylvania runner-up Victoria Vespico called rival Robyn Kass-Gerji 'piggy b***h and texted her: 'Are u ready to die now?' – before landing a job mentoring America's kids." The Mail used full names, referenced body shaming and death threats, and hinted at children being at risk, and that was only the headline.

After seeing her image run through the filter of a British tabloid, Vespico filed this abuse of process, defamation, and false light lawsuit against Kass-Gerji, Daily Mail, and Laura Collins, the reporter who authored the article. Following the voluntary dismissal of the Mail and Collins, the action now proceeds only against Kass-Gerji.

Before the court is the defendant's motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. The motion will be granted. The D.C. Superior Court's findings, detailed below, bear directly on that determination. Because Kass-Gerji also seeks attorneys' fees, the court also addresses Pennsylvania's Anti-SLAPP statute….

Upon review of the allegations in the complaint and the transcript from the ASO proceedings, the D.C. Superior Court determined that Vespico violated the stalking statute by engaging in the very harassment and threats that Kass-Gerji later described to the media, which are the alleged false statements in the complaint under review…. Consequently, the truth of whether Vespico sent threatening or intimidating texts to Kass-Gerji has already been litigated and those findings were critical to the entry of the ASO by the D.C. Superior Court…. Therefore, because all four elements of D.C.'s collateral estoppel doctrine are met, the D.C. Superior Court's determination that Vespico engaged in the harassment and threats that Kass-Gerji described to the media is conclusive and may not be relitigated.

As for the claim for defamation per se, truth is an absolute defense under Pennsylvania law regardless of the per se characterization. The findings of the D.C. Superior Court establish the truth of Kass-Gerji's statements, and thus Vespico cannot meet her burden of proving falsity….

Edward Jonathan Canter and Sloan Elizabeth Nickel (Litson PLLC) and Richard L. Armezzani (Myers, Brier & Kelly, LLP) represent Kass-Gerji.