RHOSLC’s Monica Garcia to pay Heather Gay’s Beauty Lab $35k after ‘failing to pay lip injection bill’ as lawsuit settled
The medical spa had filed a proposed judgment with a Salt Lake City court on October 22, 2024, which was approved by the judge and finalized on November 4.
A judgment has been entered in favor of Beauty Lab for $35,853.60.
The total includes the principal amount that the company initially sued for in August 2023, $2,000, plus pre-judgment interest at 18 percent per year (from February 2020 until October 2024). The interest totals $1,683.62.
In addition, Monica, 40, was charged a $15 late fee, costs and fees of $604.98 associated with the lawsuit, and Beauty Lab's attorney’s fees totaling $31,550.
Furthermore, Beauty Lab can collect post-judgment interest at the rate of 18 percent per year until the judgment is fully satisfied, as indicated in the court docs.
Plus, “Plaintiff is entitled to recover all future collection costs, court costs, and attorney’s fees incurred in enforcing and collecting this judgment," the filing stated.
NOT IN FAVOR
Days after the proposed judgment was filed by Beauty Lab, Monica’s attorney fired back at having to pay attorney’s fees for Heather’s company.
“The amount of fees sought by plaintiff is greatly excessive in view of the amount in dispute in this action,” the star's attorney argued in documents obtained by The U.S. Sun.
The initial complaint was for $2,000, which the lawyer says is “only 13% of the Small Claims limit of $15,000.”
Given the final judgment ordered Monica to pay the plaintiff’s attorney’s fees, the judge denied her lawyer’s request.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Beauty Lab and Laser and Monica's attorney for comment on this story.
"An appeal will be filed. We are confident," Monica's attorney Larry Reed later told The U.S. Sun in response.
SHOCKING LAWSUIT
In November 2023, The U.S. Sun exclusively broke the news that Heather's company had filed a lawsuit against Monica for breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
The medical spa, which has two locations in Utah, detailed in the court docs that the mom-of-four signed a contract with them on December 10, 2019, to pay $2,449 for cosmetic injection services.
According to the docs, Monica only paid the initial payment of $449, which included the $49 set-up fee and $400 down payment.
She then was supposed to make $200 monthly payments for the next 10 months, but never did.
Beauty Lab argued that they "suffered, and continues to suffer, significant losses and damages" as a result of Monica not paying the full amount owed for the services.
They requested the court to determine at trial how much the reality star should hand over, "not less than $2,000," plus reasonable attorney's fees, and other remedies provided by statute or contract.
Monica fired back at Beauty Lab by filing a counterclaim in her response to the complaint that was filed in September 2023.
She sued Beauty Lab for breach of independent duty of care, breach of contract, and breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing.
In the docs obtained by The U.S. Sun, she admitted she only made the payment of $449, but the reason why she didn't continue to make additional payments was because she believes she "received defective, negligently given injections, which did not have the intended, promised result."
Due to Beauty Lab's "botched" injections, she claims she had to go to another "competent party to fix the damage" to her nose and lips, despite Beauty Lab offering to fix the damages.
Monica’s counterclaim lawsuit was dismissed on January 17 of this year, as previously reported by The U.S. Sun, since her claim is "time-barred by the statute of limitations" and she "failed to obtain a certificate of compliance from the Division of Professional Licensing."
MAJOR FALL-OUT
Monica made her debut as a cast member on RHOSLC when season four premiered in September 2023.
Although she initially became fast friends with the majority of the cast, by the end of the season, they all labeled her a villain and outed her for running the Instagram account, Reality Von Tease.
After the cast was made aware of the bombshell, they all called her out and sent her packing in Bermuda, where they filmed the explosive season finale.
Monica was fired and did not return to season 5, which premiered in September 2024.
