Longacre won the Miss Delaware title on June 14 but was replaced two weeks later by the first runner-up Brittany Lewis because she was deemed to be too old to have competed.
Under the rules of the pageant, contestants must be no older than 24, and say they cannot turn 25 before the end of the year. Longacre’s 25th birthday will be on October 22.
Now, Longacre is seeking $US3 million and for her title to be reinstated, saying she never hid her age and provided her birth certificate, driver’s license and other documents and was judged to be eligible.
That $3 million includes other participants who have similarly competed and then disqualified after the fact.
“I asked from the beginning, am I eligible? They said yes,” she told the US Today show. “I have been nothing but honest since the beginning.”
The lawsuit says that the executive director of Miss America, Debi Wilson, “Offered to make it up to her by hosting a wine and cheese pajama party.”
The Miss America organisation says it will allow Longacre to keep her scholarship
“This case has no merit and we will vigorously defend it,” the organisation said in a statement.
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