Danielle Cavalieri found out her husband John Gunther cheated on her and decided to call the wedding off.  But she wanted to keep the diamond engagement ring.  She wanted to keep it so bad that she went to court with him over it.  Her claim? She should be able to keep a $19,000 ring after the breakdown of her marriage because it wasn't her fault.  Her argument was that her then-fiance automatically forfeit the diamond because of his infidelity. 

She claimed to suffer severe emotional distress over the situation (including the return of the ring) and demanded more than $100,000 from her ex, court papers said.

Cavalieri kept the 2.2. carat diamond and white gold ring for a year and a half and refused to give it back to Gunther.  The Nassau County judge Justice F. Dana Winslow eventually decided that Cavalieri must hand over the diamond ring or give Gunther the equivalent in cash.

She ruled that the state law allows a person to retrieve property that was given in contemplation of marriage if the marriage does not occur.   Consequently, the judge said, the fault in the breakup of the engagement is irrelevant. 

Cavalieri and Gunther are both from Long Island and spent nine years together.  They got engaged in March 2008 and had plans to get married on October 2, 2009.  These plans fell through the cracks when they separated in October 2008.

The couple had agreed to settle things at first---Cavalieri would return the ring and Gunther would agree to reimburse her father for the cost of the engagement party as well as give her their $9000 joint back account.  But when Gunther demanded she give him back the ring, Cavalieri said that she wasn't ready to give it back yet and that she was too heartbroken. 

Finally, Gunther filed a court order to retrieve the ring.   Cavalieri filed a counter response in December saying that she was entitled to the diamond jewelry because Gunther was unfaithful and had given her the ring before they decided to marry.

It seems Cavalieri was not all that distressed.  In fact, she is planning to marry a new love less than a week after the decision was made in the same church in Floral Park where she was planning to marry Gunther.

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