from www.aolnews.com – It’s a lawsuit that might have been ripped from the pages of a soap opera script. A Chicago attorney has filed suit against her ex-fiance, also an attorney, for having sex with another woman during his bachelor party in Las Vegas, claiming that he breached his “promise to marry” her.
“To quote my favorite Southern California rocker, Jackson Browne, ‘it’s the mating call of lawyers in love’ — filing a lawsuit,” Seattle attorney and legal analyst Anne Bremner told AOL News. “You never know a woman until you have seen her in court. Scorned woman equals scorched earth.”
The jilted bride, Lauren Serafin [pictured with the jilter], is asking a Cook County Circuit Court judge to award her at least $62,814 for the expenses and anguish the canceled engagement caused her.
According to a copy of the suit that was obtained by On Point News, Serafin had been dating Robert Leighton for approximately two years when he proposed to her in July 2009. The marriage ceremony and wedding reception were then scheduled for Aug. 21, 2010.
In preparation for the nuptials, Serafin alleges that she spent tens of thousands of dollars on a wedding dress, salon services, flowers, invitations and other related items, and that her purchases or deposits were nonrefundable.
In July 2010, roughly one month before the wedding date, Leighton, along with some of his friends, co-workers and family members, went to Las Vegas for his bachelor party. It was during that party that the defendant engaged in conduct that was “outrageous” and “beyond the bounds of decency,” Serafin alleges.
“The defendant met a woman named Danielle … [and] engaged in sexual intercourse [with her] in [the] defendant’s hotel room,” the court document states. “Defendant’s co-workers, friends and family members that accompanied him on the trip were present in the adjoining room.”
The suit states that Leighton met Danielle “less than 24 hours prior to engaging in sexual intercourse with her,” and that when he returned to Chicago he did not notify his fiancee about the alleged sexual liaison.
At the end of July 2010, according to the suit, Serafin found “certain text messages” from the mystery woman on her fiance’s phone and began to suspect something was wrong. She said that she confronted Leighton and that he, “seemingly believing that ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,’ denied” any wrongdoing.
But Leighton admitted he “hooked up” with Danielle and informed Serafin that he no longer wished to marry her, the lawsuit alleges.
According to the lawsuit, the engagement meant that Leighton had a “fiduciary duty of implied fidelity” to his fiancee and that he breached that duty when he engaged in sexual intercourse with another woman.
Serafin alleges she has suffered severe emotional distress, depression and humiliation by having to tell friends, family and co-workers the reason why the wedding was canceled.
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Neither Leighton nor Enrico Mirabelli, the attorney representing Serafin, returned calls for comment from AOL News Today.
While the case is unusual, Bremner said lawsuits such as this are not so unusual. Bremner also said that Serafin has a chance of winning in court.
“This tort does exist, as does the tort of outrage, [and] she has filed suit alleging both,” Bremner said. “She is entitled to seek full recompense for her financial outlays, and I believe she gets to keep the ring. I guess ‘this one’s for the girls … who have ever had a broken heart,'” she said, quoting from a Martina McBride song.