Lawyer Who Sued Ex-Fiancé for Jilting Her Is Accused of Keeping $45K Ring
An acrimonious breakup between a suburban Chicago lawyer and her fiancé is now playing out in dueling lawsuits.
Hoffman Estates, Ill., lawyer Dominique Buttitta claimed in a suit filed last month that her fiancé, Vito Salerno, called off the wedding four days before the scheduled date, and confessed he hadn’t wanted to marry her for more than a year. The suit claimed breach of a promise to marry and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and sought nearly $100,000 she had spent on the wedding.
Now Salerno is firing back in his own lawsuit that claims the decision to call off the wedding was mutual, and Buttitta never returned a $45,000 3-carat engagement ring, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Salerno claimed he wasn’t kept informed about wedding costs, but he did contribute $15,000 for expenses that included the honeymoon, counseling and dresses for the flower girls.
He also said Buttitta’s family interfered with wedding plans, giving a thumbs down to his first dance selection, “Never Gonna Be Alone” by Nickelback, according to the Sun-Times.
He does admit, however, that the bachelor party was held at a strip club. After he provided details in response to Buttitta’s repeated questions, Salerno’s suit alleges, “she spent more than a half-hour screaming and berating” him.
