'Runaway Bride' Sues Ex For $500,000

(CBS/AP)  Jennifer Wilbanks, who became known as the "runaway bride" after taking off just days before her lavish wedding in 2005, is suing her former fiancé for $500,000.

Wilbanks and John Mason broke up for good in May, about a year after her excursion to Las Vegas and New Mexico made international headlines while hundreds of friends and family members searched for her back home in suburban Atlanta.

Mason has until Oct. 22 to respond to the lawsuit, filed last month in Gwinnett County's Superior Court. The suit, Wilbanks vs. JCM Consulting et al, was filed Sept. 13, according to court records.

In it, Wilbanks seeks $250,000 as her share of a home Mason purchased through the partnership with proceeds from $500,000 received for selling their story to an agent, plus $250,000 in punitive damages for allegedly abusing the power of attorney she granted for him to handle their financial affairs, according to an Atlanta television station, which reported on the lawsuit Monday night.

She also seeks the return of personal property she claims he has kept.

Wilbanks disappeared four days before her April 30, 2005, wedding. Hundreds of police and volunteers searched for her for three days before she called Mason from Albuquerque, N.M., claiming to have been abducted and sexually assaulted.

She later recanted, saying she fled because of unspecified personal issues, and pleaded no contest to telling police a phony story.

FBI agents who interviewed her said in their report that Wilbanks "was scared to marry (fiancé) John Mason because she is afraid of an imperfect world. Wilbanks stated that she could not be the wife that her fiancé John Mason needed. Wilbanks wanted to disappear without a trace."

She was sentenced to two years' probation and performed community service that included mowing the lawns of public buildings and cleaning bathrooms.

The nearby city of Duluth, where Wilbanks had lived with her fiancé, spent nearly $43,000 to search for her.

Ah, trial by media. It's always a juicy story when the press gets involved.

Yeah, she made a mistake when she frantically spouted the last media frenzy that came to mind when she found out they were actually looking for her.

Couple things bothered me about the whole deal. A person disappeared. The police were called. IMMEDIATELY they assumed foul play and didn't check her credit card records. Why? Did they have other reasons to believe she was in danger?

There was a search for a missing person. She was found alive and physically well, if mentally unstable. Did they pat each other on the back and say Well Done? No, they said "That crazy bi**h didn't even have the decency to be dead, after we went and looked for her and everything. Let's all stick our noses in the air and tell each other how much better we are."

It disturbs me that he is making so much money off her problems. Don't you act all high and mighty, either, I know each and every one of you would sue for a portion if your ex sold the story of a mistake you made for a lot of money.

This is a girl who tried to (admittedly, quite badly) disappear into thin air. Why do people keep insisting that she is seeking attention?

[lanaedawn]

I was so tired of this story when it came out. Isn't there some sort of minimum amount of time that one needs to be missing before the police look into it? And what kind of shoddy detectives are on this police force. She took a cab to the bus station! Instead of garnering headlines all they would've had to do is interviewed some cab drivers and employees at the bus station and look into her credit card purchases to see that she ran away. If memory serves correctly she bought the bus ticket online with her credit card!
I was appalled when they made her pay back the money and do community service because the police department in her town neither followed protocol or did thorough investigative work.

[jetlizhan]

to John Mason - Good Lord son, do you realize how LUCKY you are to be rid of this fruitcake? I hope you find your true love oneday - the only word I can think of to describe you right now is BLESSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[brad71111]

Truly, if anyone should be suing it is the man in this situation. She is obviously not someone that has a firm grasp on what reality. The suit is likely frivolous aside from dividing personal assets. A suggestion would be to claim a counter suit for intentional inflictional of nervous shock or outrage to dignity and the emotional abuse that the man faced at the hands of this so called fiance. Truly this is so typical of U.S. law. Only a fool would be able to file such a suit in that country. Anywhere else in the world this persons credibility would be recognized as a sham. Lucky for her she is in the country with the worst legal system in the world. No wonder the world hates the US. Justice is blind in the US because it does not exist.

[oleander8]

"These people need to fade back into the obscurity from whence they came and stay there and move on with their lives."

Tell it to the media.

[tibu987]

Coupla dingbats. 'Nuff said.

[apdepetris]

I think the stupidest person is the one who paid $500,000 for their story. This woman got cold feet before her wedding and instead of facing her problems (or calling off the wedding before things went as far as they did) she ran away. Her husband-to-be did what anyone would do if someone they loved disappeard - he called the police. Then the police did what they were supposed to do which is look for her. I think what angered everyone is that she made up a phony story. Instead of coming clean she let things escalate even further until she had no choice but to tell the truth. This woman obviously has some personal issues to work out. But did anyone think that this relationship would work out? Personally, I don't think either of them should have made money from this - especially since she never fully repaid the city for their expenses which would have been the honorable thing to do. These people need to fade back into the obscurity from whence they came and stay there and move on with their lives.

[oleander8]

You people don't have enough information to be spouting off the judgements you are making. You only know what the sensationist media has allowed you to know - and you sound ignorant.

[rbird8728]

This man is lucky to be rid of this mental lightweight. Obviously immature, she thinks only of herself and what she can get from others...anybody! She needs a career in a service industry, like waiting tables in a diner, where your income is directly correlated to the quality of service you deliver on the spot.

[tpeks40]

Hey Ov442, you sound as crazy as this runaway bimbo is. First off, of course you search for someone that disappears without telling even her best friends or family members. She could have been lying in a ditch somewhere.....Duh.
Secondly, this poor guy didn't see that his future ex wife was a crazy fool, how can he be held responsible for her actions? I wonder how much money she has invested in that home compared to how much he has. I'm guessing that as incompetant as she seems, she probably hasn't made $250,000 in her lifetime. What a joke. This whole stupid story was all her doing, but I cannot fault this fellow for trying to make a buck off it. It's his story as much as it is hers. She's the numb skull that didn't have the guts to call off the wedding, but just picked up and ran away. She should grow up and face her problems head on like most adults do. She then lied to law enforcement, blaming an ethnic group for her abduction. What a joke this idiot is, and continues to be. Hope she gets nothing, except a referral to a good psychiatrist.