A woman is suing luxury retailer Neiman Marcus after discovering during divorce proceedings that her husband was having an affair with her personal shopper there. As she was recovering from serious injuries from a car accident, her husband apparently brought home $1.4 million worth of gifts from the store.
The woman discovered that the gifts were a sign of greater misconduct when the affair came to light and she attempted to return the unused items to the store.
One of the major problems with this conduct is that the large amount of money that the ex-husband spent depleted their martial assets, which eventually were split during the divorce. The woman is alleging that it was a way for him to funnel some of their shared money to the shopper he was having an affair with.
In high asset divorce cases, there can be many involved parties aside from the couple. Irresponsible financial conduct in years and months prior to a divorce can often become an issue for couples as they try to work out spousal support payment and asset division.
People with many different bank accounts and credit lines may be subject to this type of misconduct by a spouse, and this case seeks to hold the retailer responsible for allowing the misconduct.
It is unclear at this time why the retailer refuses to take the merchandise back, since that would seem to remedy the problem and put the parties back where they were financially before the misconduct and the affair.The store has a famously generous return policy.
Source: ABC News, “Neiman Marcus Shopper Sues Store After It Won’t Take Back Gifts From Cheating Ex-Husband,” Alyssa Newcomb, May 30, 2012.