People<\/a> reported.<\/p>\nTragedy struck on April 25 this year, when Hernandez died unexpectedly at the age of 25.<\/p>\n
In the following days, the sister of heartbroken Vandeloo contacted the venue\u2019s owner and wedding coordinator about the death.<\/p>\n
According to court documents, the coordinator replied saying that the couple would \u201cbe getting 100% refund on my part\u201d.<\/p>\n
But the owner had a different response, according to the filing.<\/p>\n
Despite saying she was \u201cso incredibly sorry\u201d for the loss of the groom-to-be, she said the venue was \u201cnot in a position to issue a refund\u201d.<\/p>\n
People said she cited the cancellation policy in the contract signed by the couple but conceded that a \u201cpartial refund\u201d could be offered, should the date be booked by another couple.<\/p>\n
This was described as a \u201cdiscretionary courtesy, not a contractual obligation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Vandeloo is now in a court battle with the venue operator, attempting to get the money back.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiego\u2019s death did not simply change the couple\u2019s wedding plans,\u201d the complaint read.<\/p>\n
In documents filed with the court, Hernandez\u2019s mother also contacted the venue.<\/p>\n
On May 7, the owner wrote that should \u201chostile communication and personal attacks\u201d from the family continue, Posey Meadows would \u201crectract (its) courtesy entirely\u201d.<\/p>\n
It prompted a reply from bride Vandeloo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not asking for the impossible \u2014 I am simply asking for humanity during the worst time of my life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The reply was followed up in June by the bride, who requested a full refund, writing that \u201cretention of the money would be an unjust and ghoulish windfall built on a young man\u2019s death\u201d.<\/p>\n
Vandeloo issued an ultimatum; if the funds had not been received in two weeks, she would sue the venue.<\/p>\n
On July 24, she did just that.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe asks this Court to declare what should never have needed to be said in a courtroom: that a business cannot keep nearly close to $16,000 paid by a young couple for a wedding, after one of them has died, by hiding behind a clause written for people who simply changed their minds,\u201d the complaint read.<\/p>\n
Posey Meadows told PEOPLE they were \u201cheartbroken\u201d to learn of the \u201cprivate and tragic situation\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince opening, we have sadly walked alongside other families through shocking losses like this. In each unique situation, Posey Meadows worked together with grieving survivors to offer them a full refund of payments, despite any contractual agreements,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur company was already working through the refund process with this family when we were served with a lawsuit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe decision for litigation has complicated this process.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause this is now a pending legal matter, and out of respect for the family\u2019s privacy, we will not comment further.\u201d<\/p>\n
The venue counter-sued Vandeloo for breaching the signed contract.<\/p>\n
Vandeloo\u2019s attorney Manuel Pelaez-Prada told the outlet the situation was \u201centirely avoidable\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cLosing Diego was a catastrophe for them and their journey to healing will be long and difficult,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still can\u2019t believe that they\u2019re having to deal with the added pain of defending Zoe against this counterclaim.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe company and its lawyer might think that their countersuit was nothing more than a technical or procedural manoeuvre \u2014 they couldn\u2019t be more wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat counterclaim is doing a lot of damage to whatever little bit of healing Zoe and Diego\u2019s parents can point to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman whose husband-to-be died before their scheduled wedding has sued their ceremony venue for failing to refund…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":934712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134,2957,1720],"class_list":["post-934711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-usa","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/934712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}