14 DAY TRIAL // A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled that a man who broke up with his fiancée via text message has no right to recover the $53,000 (€38,150) diamond ring he gave her when he proposed, as the text implied the jewelry was a “parting ring.”
After an argument over a prenuptial agreement, Louis Billittier Jr., from Buffalo, broke up with his girlfriend by sending her a text message. When the woman, Christa Clark, replied with a bitter message, he texted back, “Plus you get a $50,000 [around €38,000] parting ring. Enough for a down payment on a house.”
But then Louis, 55, changed his mind and sued Christa to get the 3-carat diamond ring back.
Billittier broke off their 14-month relationship in July 2012, taking his 38-year-old bride-to-be by surprise. Her sharp response was, “You're doing this through a text message????” This apparently infuriated the man, who then decided he wanted the diamond back. He sent her a final text message on July 31 asking her to return it.
“You by law have to give it back. You’re nowhere near the person I thought you were. You don’t deserve it,” he wrote.
Unsurprisingly, Christa refused to return the jewel, which prompted Billittier to file a complaint against her. During a court hearing, the man claimed the message in which he called the ring a “parting gift” was actually meant as a joke.
“I was being sarcastic, like a game show host - you get a parting gift,” he said, according to Buffalo News.
However, Supreme Court Judge Russell Buscaglia ruled last week that the ring was no longer involved in a marriage contract, so Christa was entitled to keep it or receive its fair market value instead.
“Parting gifts on game shows usually pale in comparison to the grand prize sought in such contests, unlike here where the ring is at the heart of this lawsuit,” he explained.
Buscaglia also mentioned that changing his mind was just “giver's remorse,” adding that “Many gifts are given for reasons that sour with the passage of time.”
According to the state law, the would-be groom is entitled to redeem the engagement ring if the relationship doesn't end up in marriage, but the rule no longer applies when the groom implies it's a gift.
Apparently, Billittier also gave Clark other expensive jewelry as gifts during their relationship, like a diamond necklace and diamond and sapphire earrings, but he didn't ask her to return those as well.