GAINESVILLE, Ga. -- A Gainesville woman has successfully sued her ex-fiancé after he called off their wedding. A jury ruled it was a breach of contract and ordered him to pay $150,000 in damages.
Rosemary Shell holds a large, glittering engagement ring in her hands. She no longer wears it on her ring finger, but instead keeps it in the box it came in. She says it's a reminder of what could have been.
"He changed his mind for no good reason," said Shell.
She's talking about Wayne Gibbs of Gainesville, a man she dated for five years. Shell says when he said he wasn't interested in marriage she moved to Pensacola, Florida and started a lucrative new job earning $81,000 a year plus bonuses and benefits. Then Gibbs showed up.
"He asked me to marry him. He gave me a ring and I gave up my life and my career and I came back to Gainesville. He told me he would pay my bills, that we would be married by the holidays and we would live happily ever after. I believed him," said Shell.
But two days before the wedding, she says Gibbs left her a goodbye note saying he couldn't go through with the wedding. He also wrote her a $5,000 dollar check. She says she tore up both and instead sued him for breach of contract.
Shell's lawyer, former Hall County District Attorney Lydia Sartain, successfully argued before a jury that Gibbs owed Shell what she'd lost in salary plus pain and suffering.
"He callously allowed her to quit her job, move back and into his house where she had no income and then after a couple of months he just put her out on the streets and said 'you know you're on your own'," said Sartain.
After just a day of testimony, the jury sided with Shell and ordered Gibbs to pay $150,000 dollars in damages.
Neither Gibbs nor his attorney was available for comment. Gibbs did testify that he didn't feel he owed Shell anything, especially since he'd let her keep the engagement ring.
The ring Shell now keeps in that box and plans to sell. She says she hopes the next woman who receives it has a fiancé who will follow through.
