Bruce Johnson v. Caroline Settino

Summary

The court retired the fault-based rule for ownership of engagement gifts and held that an engagement ring given in contemplation of marriage must be returned when the marriage does not occur, regardless of which party ended the engagement. It held that the same conditional-gift rule applied to the wedding band and applied the new rule retroactively. The court also upheld prejudgment interest on the dental-procedure counterclaim but required it to be recalculated from the date the counterclaim was filed.