KUALA LUMPUR: Ronasutra Cosmetics was ordered by the sessions court here today to pay RM265,000 in arrears contractually due to actress Vanidah Imran.
Judge Roszianayati Ahmad made the decision after allowing the actress' claim over the refusal of Ronasutra’s parent company, Miliyasutra Industries Sdn Bhd, to pay the balance of payment.
In her judgement, Roszianayati said according to the agreement, the company is obliged to pay RM490,000 for a period of two years to the actress for her services, which had undisputedly been completed.
However, the court dismissed Vanidah's RM500,000 claim for damages from the company for using her image after the contract expired, as well as her claim for general, exemplary and aggravated damages.
In dismissing the claims, the court found that Vanidah failed to prove that Beauty Runcit (a Singapore-based online beauty product company) had direct contact with Ronasutra.
"SD1 (Beauty Runcit operator Rashitah Rahim) testified that she made the decision by herself to use the plaintiff's (Vanidah)’s images on her website," the judge said.
A counter claim by Miliyasutra was also dismissed by the court after it failed to prove that products being promoted through Vanidah's Instagram were not included in their print ads, as per the contract.
"The court agrees with the plaintiff's testimony that the products that she promoted were to show support to friends without accepting any payment," Roszianayati said, ordering RM10,000 as cost.
On Oct 28, last year, Vanidah filed the suit, seeking damages of RM765,000 from the company for breach of contract and misuse of her image.
In her statement of claim, Vanidah said she had signed a two-year contract worth RM490,000 with Miliyasutra in Sept 2012, during which the popular actress said she had fulfilled her responsibilities without receiving any complaint from the company.
However, she claimed that when the contract expired in Sept 2014, she did not receive the balance payment of RM265,000 and that on April 6, 2015, the defendant had suggested a payment of RM60,000 as full settlement.
The actress also claimed that in July last year, she discovered that her image had been used by the defendant in the sale of various Ronasutra cosmetic products and that the misuse of her image persists until today.
Vanidah had sought the balance of payment of RM265,000 and RM500,000 in damages for the use of her image without consent.
Counsel Mohamad Saiful Dzulhelmi Zulkifli acted for Vanidah, while counsel Phang Soon Mun represented Miliyasutra.