Estranged couple squares off over $16K engagement ring

A formerly engaged couple got into an ugly argument outside B.C. Supreme Court this morning tossing wild allegations back and forthin a fight over a $16,500 engagement ring.

Charlie Zampieri is suing his ex-fiance Jessica Bennett to get backthe diamond and sapphire ring he gave her.

The couple confronted each otherin front of reporters outside a court hearing on Thursday morning.

The pair met on the dating website Plenty of Fish and got engaged three weeks later. They were together for about 20 months.

Zampieri alleges Bennettleft him and took the ring with her.

Bennett believes the ring should stay with her and said so in court documents.

"What does it symbolize? It would symbolize maybe the man that loved me that didn't do the right thing," she told CBC News on Wednesday.

Zampieri alleges the ring was not a gift but a marriage contract Bennett broke.

During thetime they were together, Bennett says she was committed to the relationship.

"I clipped his toenails, I did his hair, I tinted his beard, I waxed his chest, I massaged his feet."

Bennett says finances and other things contributed to the split.

"If it wasn't one huge disastrous problem, another one came up."

She allegesZampieriowes her money much more than the ring is worth.

She also disputes Zampieri's claim that he was willing to give her one of his kidneys.

"I asked him, he said no."

Engagement rings have been the subject of lawsuits before and the courts appear divided on whether a ring is a gift or a symbolof a contract to get married.