A New Zealand woman attempted to take her former boyfriend to court for failing to take her to the airport as he had promised, which resulted in her losing her flight and incurring additional costs.

According to legal documents released by New Zealand’s Disputes Tribunal, which deals with small claims up to NZ$30,000 ($18,384), the woman had asked her boyfriend of six and a half years to drive her to the airport ahead of a concert she was to attend with some friends. The man had also agreed to stay at her place while she was gone and look after her dogs, but he ultimately failed to do all the things he had verbally agreed to, which caused her to miss her plane, and incur unplanned financial costs, such as taking a shuttle to the airport and paying a dog kennel to keep her pets. She filed a complaint with the Tribunal hoping to be reimbursed by her now-former partner.

Photo: Ross Sneddon/Unsplash

On the morning of her flight, the woman’s boyfriend was supposed to pick her up between 10:00 and 10:15 am, but he never showed up and he didn’t answer his phone. So she missed her flight, but managed to salvage her trip, and after her vacation, she decided to hold her now-former boyfriend accountable in front of the Disputes Tribunal, a “quicker, cheaper and less formal than court.”

The woman, referred to only by her initials (CL), told the Tribunal that her ex-boyfriend had breached a “verbal contract” with her, but the court looked into whether the two parties had actually entered a contract that needed to be honored. In the end, the Disputes Tribunal dismissed the woman’s claims, ruling that her then-boyfriend (HG) was under no legal obligation to keep his promises.

“Partners, friends and colleagues make social arrangements, but it is unlikely they can be legally enforced unless the parties perform some act that demonstrates an intention that they will be bound by their promises,” tribunal referee Krysia Cowie ruled. “When friends fail to keep their promises, the other person may suffer a financial consequence but it may be that they cannot be compensated for that loss. As I have found that the parties made their agreement in the context of their friendship, CL has not shown she is entitled to the order that she seeks, and her claim is dismissed.”