Dispatches from the Creation Wars

Says a Utah judge:

A jilted fiance can’t recover the money he spent on an engagement ring or for his vasectomy, the Utah Court of Appeals ruled last week.

The couple dated for three months before getting engaged in July 2004 and prepared for a November wedding. The nuptials were postponed twice, and in late April 2005, the woman broke off the engagement “without any forewarning or explanation,” according to the court’s opinion.

The woman returned her engagement ring, but in November 2005 the former groom-to-be filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for numerous purchases made while the couple were together, said the opinion. He argued that had it not been for the wedding he would not have purchased an engagement ring, financed an Alaskan cruise and a trip to France, or spent $2,400 to help the woman’s son purchase a vehicle.

I still want my records back.

Comments

#1 llDayo
June 28, 2007

I’d have to say that if the bride was being dishonest with her intentions of marrying the guy, just so he would spend money on her, that he would have a strong case. I can’t see getting back the money spent on the ring (she at least gave it back which leads me to believe she had the intention of marrying him or else she may have kept it) but the other things, yes, if there was intentional deceit. How you would prove it, I dunno.
#2 BobApril
June 28, 2007

Maybe he should consider suing for “breach of promise,” to require her to marry him after all. Could lead to the world’s shortest marriage – she’d have the lawyer draw up the divorce papers to be filed at the courthouse simultaneously with “You may now kiss the bride.”
#3 yoshi
June 28, 2007

I still want my records back.

Heh … it took me a few moments to understand what this comment was referring to. Having never owned a “record” I thought you meant there was some paperwork or something that needed recovering.
#4 BobApril
June 28, 2007

Thanks, Yoshi, I needed someone to make me feel old this morning! Now get out of my yard, ya young punk!
#5 kemibe
June 28, 2007

As an aside, I would guess that in Utah, vasectomies are about as common as brain transplants.
#6 jba
June 28, 2007

“As an aside, I would guess that in Utah, vasectomies are about as common as brain transplants.”

But just as desperatly needed…
#7 Brian Thompson
June 28, 2007

Just to make everyone feel better, I used to own records too. LPs, EPs… I even owned a 45 once! Gramophone Record on wikipedia. I think the only technology I never really got on the bandwagon for was laser discs.
#8 Alison
June 28, 2007

I knew what he meant. Heck, I finally got rid of the 78′s I inherited from the ‘rents only a couple of years ago.

My thought before reading the comments was Ben Folds. . .”And don’t forget to give me back my black t-shirt. . .”
#9 Pieter B
June 28, 2007

For those of you with treasured old vinyl recordings that you can’t find on CD, I suggest searching Amazon for “USB turntable.”
#10 Ed Brayton
June 28, 2007

Man, now I feel old. And I feel even older knowing that kids growing up today don’t even know what cassette tapes were, all they’ve known are CDs. Us old folks still tend to refer to CDs as “albums” while young people are saying, “Yeah I think I saw one of those in a museum.” I’m going to take my geritol and eat some tapioca pudding.
#11 Dave S.
June 28, 2007

Could be worse. I still have some 8-track tapes (Narareth’s Greatest Hits and Meat Loaf Bat out of Hell amoung others), and the stereo to play ‘em. Of course I still have my LP’s and even a few 45′s on vinyl. The 8-track stereo also has a record player … a turntable to you kids out there.
#12 Scott P
June 28, 2007

I’m ok with this precedent. Things you purchase for another during a relationship are gifts; there is no quid pro quo. If the purchases are not gifts, then we’re talking about prostitution. (Until you’re married, and then you’re just throwing your money away.)
#13 AnneS
June 28, 2007

These are the cases Judge Judy was invented for.

He should count his blessings. He got off cheap. Or would have, if he hadn’t taken it to court.
#14 jufulu, FCD
June 28, 2007

When I got done reading the story, I was thinking that maybe The woman had made a good choice. Assuming she was not deceiving him, I can’t amagine wanting to marry him if he can act that way.
#15 Shawn Smith
June 28, 2007

I was wondering where I heard, “I want my records back,” before, and only after searching did I find the reference to Sam Kinison. That must have been it. Thanks for the memories, Ed.
#16 raj
June 28, 2007

He actually bought a car for the woman’s kid? How stupid was he?

The only thing she was obligated to do was to return the engagement ring. She did so. If he was stupid enough to incurr the other expenditures, that’s his loss.
#17 grasshopper
June 28, 2007

40 years ago I bought a ring for my first highschool sweetheart. We split up after some years and she kept the ring. Earlier this year, at her funeral, her sister gave me back the ring. It was my sweetheart’s dying wish.

She had worn it for 40 years.

Ain’t life funny?
#18 Dr X
June 28, 2007

Any of you know about 78s?
#19 Dr X
June 28, 2007

Never mind the 78 question. I missed it earlier in the comments.
#20 khan
June 29, 2007

There were also 16s.
#21 Dr. X
June 29, 2007

“There were also 16s”

I once had a turntable with that setting, but never saw an actual 16 RPM record.
#22 khan
June 29, 2007

“There were also 16s”

I once had a turntable with that setting, but never saw an actual 16 RPM record.

My parents had some back in the early ’60s.
#23 ScottH
June 29, 2007

You probably can’t get it in vinyl, but Ben Folds Five’s “Song for the Dumped” springs to mind here.