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Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo
Monica Garcia has been ordered by a judge to pay Heather Gay‘s med spa, Beauty Lab + Laser, over $35,000.
Over a year after Heather, 50, filed a lawsuit against the 40-year-old former Real Housewives of Salt Lake City cast member, claiming she refused to pay for the thousands of dollars worth of injections she received, a judge has ruled in favor of Heather’s business.
According to court documents obtained by The U.S. Sun on November 5, Heather’s company filed a proposed judgment in a Salt Lake City court last month. And on Monday, a judge approved the proposal, entering a $35,853.60 judgment in favor of Beauty Lab + Laser.
In August 2023, Heather’s company filed a lawsuit against Monica, which included a principal amount of $2,000 and an 18 percent interest charge per year, beginning in February 2020 and ending in October 2024 for a total of $1,683.62 in interest. She was also charged a $15 late fee and $604.98 in other court-related costs, and she was charged for Beauty Lab + Laser’s attorney fees, which came to a grand total of $31,550.
Now that the judgment has been finalized, the company can charge Monica an additional 18 percent in interest each year until the full amount has been paid.
“Plaintiff is entitled to recover all future collection costs, court costs, and attorney’s fees incurred in enforcing and collecting this judgment,” the filing also stated.
Following Heather’s company’s proposal last month, Monica’s attorney, Larry Reed, scoffed at the idea that she should be held accountable for paying its lawyer fees.
“The amount of fees sought by plaintiff is greatly excessive in view of the amount in dispute in this action,” the lawyer stated, adding that the principal amount of Beauty Lab + Laser’s lawsuit was “only 13% of the Small Claims limit of $15,000.”
Monica’s attorney also confirmed plans to appeal the ruling.
“An appeal will be filed. We are confident,” Larry told The U.S. Sun.
As RHOSLC fans may recall, Heather sued Monica for breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, stating that she had signed a contract to pay $2,449 for cosmetic injection services in 2019 but only paid the initial fee of $449.
Beauty Lab + Laser said in its case that it “suffered, and continues to suffer, significant losses and damages” due to Monica’s non-payment.
In response to the case, Monica filed a counterclaim, suing Heather’s company for “breach of independent duty of care, breach of contract, and breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing.”
Although Monica admitted to paying just $449, she claimed in her court documents to have stiffed the business for the rest because she allegedly “received defective, negligently given injections, which did not have the intended, promised result.” She then claimed that Beauty Lab + Laser’s “botched” injections forced her to seek out a “competent party to fix the damage.”
Monica’s countersuit was thrown out in January because the claim was “time-barred by the statute of limitations,” and she “failed to obtain a certificate of compliance from the Division of Professional Licensing.”
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season five airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.
