Two timer, Christopher Kelley has been fined $50 000 for breach of promise after he left his fiance, Melissa Cooper for another woman.
The fine came after Melissa Cooper went on to successfully sue Christopher Kelley after she told a Georgia court that she had given up her job to move in with her fiance only to be thrown out after she discovered his relationship with another woman.
In her lawsuit, the jilted woman told she had quit her job to become a housewife for her former beau, their child and another child he had from a former relationship. She made that sacrifice under the premise she would be his wife.
At the time of the ruling, Cooper told the court that she was devastated by Kelley’s fraud and breach of promise to marry after having gone on to quit her job to raise the couple’s children in reliance on the promise.
Things are said to have come undone after the woman came to find out that Kelley had cheated on her a number of times and carrying on a relationship with another woman despite handing her a $10,000 engagement ring.
At the time of the discovery, this had purportedly been Kelley’s second affair during their relationship, Kelley asked Cooper to move out of their home – with both children.
After having gone on to successfully sue Kelley, Christopher Kelley tried to use a legal technicality to argue that the promise to marry was, wait for this kids, a relationship similar to prostitution.
The state court of appeals ruled that the relationship did not involve the exchange of money for cohabitation and sexual favors, making the defense inapplicable.
Christopher Kelley also tried to claim he merely gave Melissa Cooper the ring without proposing, but the court turned disagreed with that shit, telling in fact that it constituted proof that Kelley never intended to marry her.
Testified Kelley at the time: ‘I never initiated the concept of marriage with her, outside of giving her that ring,’
‘I never said the words ‘will you marry me’ to her.’
Responded the court: ‘This testimony, when juxtaposed with Cooper’s testimony about the proposal and her acceptance, can be construed as an admission that Kelley never intended to marry Cooper.’
Of course one wonders if Melissa Cooper would have just ended up tolerating the back and forth cheating had Christopher Kelly hadn’t asked her to move out, which raises the question why did she put up with it in the first place? Or was she just turning a blind eye in lieu of the knowledge that someone else would be paying for her keep…?
