The High Court sitting in Lagos State has awarded a lady the sum of 12 Million naira in compensation against her boyfriend who blatantly refused to marry her as promised, without a cogent or a compelling reason.
The lady during trial successfully established that the boyfriend had dated her for 3 years and had religiously promised to marry her, a promise he failed to keep.
She stated that premised on her boyfriend’s repeated promise to marry her, she invested her time, energy and resources into the relationship and refused other suitor’s marriage proposal.
The lady informed the court that the boyfriend broke up with her shortly afterwards and thus, occasioned her emotional and psychological trauma that eventually cost her job.
The Court in deciding whether or not the boyfriend’s action was indeed a breach of promise to marry considered the decision of the court in the case of Uso v Iketubosin [1975] WRNLR 187.
In the case of Uso v Iketubosin, the boyfriend promised to marry his girlfriend in 1947.
In 1957, he decided to marry another woman in breach of his earlier promise to his girlfriend. The Court held that the boyfriend’s conduct constituted a breach of promise to marry and the aggrieved girlfriend was indeed entitled to damages.
