A Georgia man owes his ex-fiancee $150,000 for breaking off their engagement, a Hall County jury decided Wednesday. The six-man, six-woman panel spent about three hours deliberating before ruling in favor of RoseMary Shell, who sued Wayne Gibbs for breach of contract after he called off their nuptials.
During the three-day trial, Shell testified that she quit a job paying $81,000 a year in Pensacola, Fla., to move back to Gainesville and be with Gibbs after he proposed in October 2006. In December he left a note in the couple’s bathroom expressing second thoughts about the marriage, and he broke off the engagement for good in March 2007. Shell, who now makes $31,000 a year working for North Georgia College & State University, sued the following June.
The defense lawyer stated that he could find only one prior instance of someone suing over a broken wedding engagement in a search of 25 years of Georgia case histories.