Woman must return $70,000 engagement ring to former fiance, Massachusetts' highest court rules
BOSTON - A woman must return a $70,000 engagement ring to her former fiance after a ruling Friday from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
The justices also overturned a rule that required judges to decide who is at fault for an engagement ending.
The engagement
Bruce Johnson and Caroline Settino were briefly engaged in 2017. Johnson bought an engagement ring from Tiffany's in Boston for more than $70,000. He then proposed to her on Cape Cod.
They broke up a short time later. Johnson accused Settino of being verbally abusive, not accompanying him to cancer treatments and having an affair. Johnson claimed he found a text message on Settino's phone to a man that said, "My Bruce is going to be in Connecticut for three days. I need some playtime." Settino denied having an affair and said the man she texted was just a friend.
The ring battle
A trial court judge initially ruled in Settino's favor, saying Johnson was at fault for calling off the engagement and she gets to keep the ring. Johnson appealed the decision and a Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled in his favor.
The appeals court said the SJC would have to consider whether Massachusetts should follow other states where engagement rings are returned to the giver if an engagement is called off, regardless of who is at fault.
No-fault engagements in Massachusetts
The SJC in turn overturned the 65-year-old rule, which stated that judges had to decide whose fault it was for the engagement ending and then award the ring to the other party.
"We now join the modern trend adopted by the majority of jurisdictions that have considered the issue and retire the concept of fault in this context; where, as here, the planned wedding does not ensue and the engagement is ended, the engagement ring must be returned to the donor regardless of fault," wrote Associate Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt in the decision.
"...the only relevant inquiry in conditional engagement gift cases is whether the condition under which the gift was made -- that is, the marriage ceremony -- has failed to occur. Where the planned nuptial does not come to pass, the engagement gift must be returned to the donor," she continued.