Romance Ends Between a Rock and a Court Case

SANTA ANA — An Orange County man has sued his former girlfriend for damages, alleging she refused to return a 3-carat diamond ring after breaking off their engagement.

Donald Olsen contends in a lawsuit filed this week that Angie Leyton of Irvine had no intention of marrying him but rather “intended only to derive economic benefit by inducing” him to spend $28,877 on a diamond ring.

He maintains in the lawsuit that Leyton is legally obliged to return the ring under California’s civil code, which states that if a gift of money or property was given based on the assumption that a marriage would take place, and the person accepting the gift did not go through with matrimony plans, then the gift must be returned.

Leyton said Thursday she was unaware of the lawsuit, and denied the ring was an engagement ring.

“It was a gift,” she said. “There was never any question of marriage. Ask him when was the wedding date set for?”

She described Olsen as “so silly” for taking the matter to court. “He sounds bitter, doesn’t he?”

Olsen could not be reached for comment Thursday, and his lawyer did not return phone calls.

In his lawsuit, Olsen said he bought Leyton a $14,000 2-carat marquise engagement ring in February after two years of courtship. But he said she “objected that the ring was insufficient.”

Olsen said he exchanged the 2-carat ring for the 3-carat ring and also gave Leyton $1,429.

She broke off the engagement in March when he refused to give her more money, states the lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court.

Olsen contends that when he bought the $14,000 ring, Leyton told him that if the “engagement did not work out and was terminated, she would return” the ring.

Olsen’s suit seeks return of the ring or $28,877 he spent on it, plus unspecified damages.

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The Ring

This is actual size of 3-carat $28,877 diamond ring at the heart of the lawsuit