Ex-couple battles over engagement rings he bought with her credit card
Ex countersues former fiancée, saying he never owed her for rings and she kept his stuff
Boy meets girl.
He proposes with matching rings he bought with her credit card.
She says yes, but they break up — and end up in a legal battle over who owes whom what.
She says he needs to pay her back for the rings, but he says they're basically even because she didn't give back his PlayStation, flat screen TV, surround sound system, microwave and a "professional" set of pots and pans when they split.
In short, that's the story of a B.C. couple that ended up going through the Civil Resolution Tribunal to settle things.
(Spoiler: she wins.)
Borrowed card to buy rings
Mike McLaughlin planned to propose to Corinne McKay in early 2017.
He didn't have his own credit card so asked to borrow hers to buy engagement rings with matching pink gemstones for $3,490.
She said yes — to handing over her card, and the proposal — and agreed he could pay her back at $500 a month.
Then they broke up. (It was "abrupt," according to the tribunal ruling.)
McKay sued her ex-fiancé over the rings, saying he hadn't paid her back a penny.
He sued her back, saying he never agreed to repay her in the first place. He also said she didn't give back $4,900 worth of his stuff — the aforementioned, plus a couch and matching chair.
The tribunal ruled in McKay's favour on Nov. 2. The decision noted text messages and recordings McKay had proving McLaughlin agreed to pay her back.
He was ordered to repay his ex in full for the rings. She'll have 10 days to give them back once she's paid.
If McLaughlin doesn't want the rings back, the tribunal said she's free to do what she wants with them.
But what about the PlayStation?
As for McLaughlin's stuff — his counterclaim was dismissed.
McKay had tried to give the belongings back more than once, the tribunal found. At one point, McLaughlin and three friends brought two trucks to the ex-couple's old home to pack up his things.
He left with one load, saying he'd be back for the rest but never came back.
When McKay asked him about it later, he told her to "throw it away" and said "it doesn't matter."
"I find that Ms. Mckay made reasonable attempts to ensure that Mr. Mclaughlin could retrieve all of his belongings and ... she may now dispose of them as she sees fit," wrote a tribunal member in the ruling.