Posted on 07/23/2008 5:45:25 PM PDT by RDTF
HALL COUNTY, Ga. -- The jury has awarded a Hall County woman $150,000 after she sued her former fiance for calling their wedding off.
RoseMary Shell sued her ex-fiance, Wayne Gibbs, after he broke off their engagement in 2007.
Shell argued her fiance's promise of marital bliss amounted to a binding contract. She said she left a high-paying job in Florida to be with Gibbs and she said she has suffered financial losses since their break-up. She also said she has suffered emotionally.
Gibbs testified that he had taken Shell on trips and paid $30,000 of her debt while they were engaged. He said when he found out she had even more debt, he canceled the wedding by leaving Shell a note in their bathroom.
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(Excerpt) Read more at wsbtv.com ...
The precedent is now set. That’s why I don’t believe in marriage anymore. Well, unless it’s to some hot middle-aged woman who’s already loaded.
So, can I now sue all my ex-wives because they broke our "till death do us part" vows??
Absolutely Not!
If engagements are now a legally binding contract there'll be a lot more single women out there.
The prospective groom got away cheap ( as opposed to “’til- death-do-us-part” bliss).
Pay her the 150K and end the Shell game.
Actually, I hope he appeals, she gets $1 and they end up in court again over the engagement ring.
Popcorn anybody?
Never, EVER marry a man or woman who has debt.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
Well, actually, I do have more to say, LOL!
I postponed our wedding until Husband had his Student Loan ($14K) and some stupid “signed for with the ex-girlfriend loan” ($1K) paid off.
I wasn’t going into Marriage with THAT hanging over us. Duh.
However, this woman deserves nothing. NOTHING! She merely got lucky in the Lottery of Life.
She lied to him.
She was looking for some sucker to pay off her credit cards.
Whatever happened to “Make sure she’s had all her dental work done” before tying the knot??
I’ll never understand this younger generation.
On second thought, they look like they belong in my generation.
The 'Note' he left Her should have been a Blank Check.... the end result would have been the same either way, Broke !
$30,000 is not an enormous amount of debt these days. It is a loan on an SUV of no particular distinction. What was this "high-paying job" and how "high-paying" was it? If she had $50,000 in student loans and quit a $250k associate in a law firm that is one thing. If she was deputy assistant purchasing manager for a chain store at $55K and had $50,000 in credit card bills that is another.
I am as opposed to the enslavement of the American population through the expansion of debt as anyone. I am in fact probably more opposed to it than anyone on this forum because I have known for 20 years that it was going to land the US in the deep dark smelly soup that it has woken up to find itself it. But debt is the currency of the land. Don't like it - go blame Greenspan and the federal/private banking system. Funny we don't hear much from folks anymore telling us what a genius Greenspan was.
But back to the main point of beating up on this idiot news reporter. We need to know who what when why and how, and not just that he spent the summer at the beach instead of doing his job.
Oh, his editor is an idiot too.
Never heard that one, LOL!
I’ve still got all of my original teeth, though. I guess my husband got a deal and not a pig in a poke. ;)
Just your luck you’ll find she’s loaded as in drunk. ROTFL
Omg, how many do you have?!
and I owe you 50 cents. Now I’m officially in debt and no good to anyone. sigh.
He needs to appeal. No way an engagement can be a binding contract.
Wow, I would think it’s her responsibility if she chose to move and give up her job before the ceremony. So many women just want to marry a man for his money. Of course, plenty of men want to marry for shallow reasons too.
sick.
My wife and I bought a house together before we were ever engaged. On the day we took ownership (well, the bank actually still has a controlling interest) I proposed to her on the front porch. I figured now that we were financially inseparable we might at as well tie the knot. Now we have a beautiful son and are living happily ever after...
I'm guessing it's just bad reporting. What might have happened rather than contract law, is that the court found promissory estoppel. If she left her job in Florida and moved to Georgia based on his promises that he would marry her, she might have an estoppel claim. You're right, it's not a contract, but it sounds in contract and gets you to a pretty similar place.
That’s much more romantic than paying off Student Loans or debt from an old girlfriend, LOL!
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