The Tokyo High Court has ordered major department store Isetan to return a diamond to a woman and pay her 1.2 million yen in damages, after she sued the company, saying the diamond in her ring was switched for a synthesized stone during restoration work.

The high court ruled that the diamond had been switched for a cubic zirconia stone while it was in the possession of a business entrusted by Isetan to do the work.

"The diamond was switched while being held by the business," Presiding Judge Yoshiaki Nishida said in handing down the ruling, which followed an earlier district court decision.

In November 2003, the woman took a diamond ring that her husband gave her on their 10th wedding anniversary to Isetan's Shinjuku store and asked for the diamond to be switched to a platinum ring. Isetan then subcontracted the work to another business.

In the lawsuit, Isetan officials claimed that the woman had given her a zirconia stone in the first place, but the court pointed out that the stone the woman had given them had been held by six clasps, but marks on the zirconia stone indicated that it had been held by four clasps.

"From her personality and the circumstances in which she was living, it's hard to imagine that the plaintiff was lying," the high court ruling said. The court awarded the woman compensation, saying that she had become unwell due to shock from the ring being replaced. The court also ruled that should Isetan be unable to return the diamond to the woman, it must pay her 4.7 million yen in damages.

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