Pacta Sunt Servanda (Promises Ought to be Kept)

So, I’m thinking about suing my EX for breach of our relationship contract! I know you are thinking that I am crazy but hear me out.

I have been studying contracts pretty heavy for the past few days. The more and more I read the more I thought about him! Especially when words like 'future', 'promise', and 'commitment' kept popping up. These are words that we often exchanged during our time together. And more importantly, we said them with smiles in anticipation of our life together in years to come.

My Ex had promised me a future together. The terms of our relationship were as follows...Since we were long distance, we committed to a schedule of visitation. We had drawn up a plan to visit each other bi-weekly. Every other visit he would come to see me. This schedule was to last for 1 year. At which time, I would begin to look for employment in his city. The agreement was that I would not move if I was only 'a girlfriend', so we both understood the expectation. When he asked me to commit to being with him exclusively, he expressed his interest in marriage and stated that he would like to be engaged in no more than a year and a half's time. I liked the terms of our contract, so I entered into the agreement and immediately began fulfilling my duties.

As we enacted the terms of our agreement by keeping in daily contact, he literally promised me his maximum effort. He promised to always press through the trying times, and in the spirit of naïveté that comes at the expense of young love, he promised to be the father of my future children; he promised to one day be my loving husband and provider.

After only a few months of commitment, he terminated our contract on the grounds that keeping up his end of the bargain was "too hard". Now that the contract is breached...I am left holding the bag? What are my rights? If contract law is set to protect one's "expectation" interest, then shouldn't he owe me something???? I mean really, I spent money, time, effort, and opportunity cost all in an attempt to not only keep up my end of the deal but to ultimately secure our future.

As, I scrolled through pages of research, I learned that a contract must involve three things: a future plan/action (check...we had that), a commitment (check...we had that) and an exchange of measurable losses (check...I think). I was not sure about what my measurable losses were until I dug deeper. As I looked through the details—the emails, texts, and countless IMs that evidenced , in writing, our contract—I realized that I had a considerable amount of losses and many of them were monetarily measurable:

• Gas for the 3 times I visited ($2.79/gallon; 4 full tanks)—$167.40
• Tolls ($8.40 each way)—$50.40


• Gifts I would not have bought if not under contract (CD-$12.99, Case of beer-$35.00, Wine set-$39.99)—$87.98


• Concert Tickets (artist: Maxwell; $65/ticket, he never reimbursed me)—$130.00


• Work as Bartender/Cook for his Birthday Party ($18/hour for 12hrs)—$216.00


• Little Bissell purchase to remove dog's stain on rugs—$89.99


• Tears and Suffering (I am claiming the half day I had to take off because he broke up with me while I was at work and other miscellaneous retail therapy cost)—$508.23

Now, I know the judge may think that some of these promises are not enforceable! The jury may just chalk it up to any other social agreement gone awry...but I believe I am entitled to the sum of these damages.

Even if nothing comes of the suit, the look on his face will be PRICELESS! He will think about it the next time he starts tossing out frivolous promises! So, since we had a contract...

Mr. Contract Breacher, you are being sued by The Serial Bachelorette for damages in the amount $1250.00...(is that all our relationship was worth? he should just give me that out of good faith)...

YOU HAVE BEEN SERVED!!!

Thanks for taking this journey with me!

—The S.B.