Fresh off her legal victory over Wellington developer Glenn Straub, Miss America owner Robin Fleming announced May 7 that the pageant is coming to West Palm Beach.
The road it took to get here was anything but pretty.
Fleming, speaking to reporters at the Hilton hotel at Palm Beach International Airport, said nothing of the courtroom drama that continues to dog her claim over the pageant. Scheduled to take place at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in late August, it remains the center of an ownership dispute between Fleming and the man who helped her buy it.
Straub, the financier in question, helped Fleming found the new Miss America entities in late 2022, acquiring the former pageant brand’s assets. Fleming was listed as the registered agent, authorized representative and manager. Straub was not.
Trouble began in 2024 when Straub claimed at a meeting that he was the true owner of Miss America. A corporate tug-of-war followed, with attorneys for both Straub and Fleming pointing to business documents they argued proved who really owned the pageant.
A federal judge ruled in March that Straub’s documents — operating agreements and business minutes submitted as evidence by attorney Craig Galle — were shams.
“The fabrications are willful and egregious,” and “constitute fraud upon the court,” wrote U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks.
Pending lawsuits cast shadow over Miss America’s Palm Beach debut
The judge dismissed Straub’s counterclaim against Fleming, in which he argued that she was the fraud, and ordered him and Galle to pay her attorney’s fees. Fleming’s lawyers are seeking nearly $5 million.
The legal fight isn’t over yet. Straub asked Middlebrooks in April to reinstate his ownership counterclaim, pointing to the judge’s own words during a previous evidentiary hearing. Middlebrooks had said the underlying ownership dispute was “apparently a legitimate dispute” with “arguments on both sides.”
Galle, meanwhile, filed a separate notice of appeal on April 6.
Fleming has several other claims pending against Straub, including a defamation lawsuit, meaning the pageant will likely arrive in Palm Beach County this summer with its ownership saga still playing out in federal court.
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. Reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miss America pageant’s road to West Palm was anything but glamorous
Reporting by Hannah Phillips, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
