Engagement Ring Exception To “Heartbalm” Law

Though the so-called “heartbalm” law prevents one party from suing another for breaking off a wedding engagement, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled unanimously this week that litigation seeking the return of the engagement ring is allowed. Ethan Dockendorf proposed to Julia McGrath with a $26,000 engagement ring. After he broke off the engagement and McGrath refused to return the ring, Dockendorf sued to get it back. The court rejected McGrath’s argument that the ring fell under the heartbalm law, arguing instead that it counts as a conditional gift. “[D]ue to its limited scope and the limited relief afforded by it, [an] action rooted in a theory of conditional gift is not and does not resemble an action for breach of a promise to marry,” the court wrote in its ruling.