North Carolina Man Sues Wife’s Lover
This Weeks Wacky Wednesday North Carolina Man Sues Wife’s Lover
Going through a divorce is an unfortunately common experience, but it is one that is almost always painful for those who are going through the divorce and their families. One man from North Carolina named Kevin Howard who was going through a divorce understands this pain. However, he decided to sue for alienation of affections, which is quite rare, as there are only a few places in the United States that allow for this type of claim. Another term often used for these laws are homewrecker laws. The laws will allow a spouse to sue someone for interfering with the marriage purposefully. This means that the person who is sued is generally the person who the spouse cheated with.
Finding Out and Filing the Lawsuit
Howard had been married for more than a decade when his wife talked to him about separating. They decided to go to marriage counseling, but Howard had a bad feeling. He hired a private investigator who found out that she was having an affair. To add insult to injury, the man who she was having an affair with was one of her coworkers that had been to dinner with them a number of times. Howard thought they were friends. It turns out that was not the case at all.
When he found out, he blamed the other man for alienating his wife from him, and he brought about a lawsuit. He said that filing a lawsuit was not only about getting money from the man but also because he believed in the sanctity of marriage. He wanted others to see what the consequences could be of breaking vows and cheating. He seemed to believe that by going to marriage counseling, he would be able to save his marriage. He simply did not know that it was already too late to do so.
The law actually agreed with Howard, and he ended up winning the lawsuit. He was awarded $750,000, which is to be paid by his ex-wife’s lover.
More Common than Many Might Believe
While you tend not to hear about these types of cases very often, they are somewhat common. They just do not always make the news. If you think that $750,000 is a lot of money, it is far less than what some of these other cases have awarded in the past. There have been cases where people have been awarded millions of dollars. North Carolina was the center of another one of these cases in 2018 when the court ordered a man named Francisco Huizar to pay $8.8 million to Keith King. Huizar had been having an affair with King’s wife for 18 months.
King was awarded so much in this case because there were multiple charges not only of alienation of affection, but also intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, criminal conversation, and assault and battery.
This Weeks Wacky Wednesday North Carolina Man Sues Wife’s Lover
The United States has only a handful of states where these laws still exist, as most states have repealed them. However, they are still on the books in North Carolina, as evidenced by the cases above, as well as Utah, South Dakota, Hawaii, Mississippi, and New Mexico.
There are conflicting views on these types of laws, and many feel that they are antiquated and should be repealed. Others believe that they serve as a way to provide some added means of protection for those who are in a marriage. Regardless, as long as there are places that still have these laws, you can be sure that there will be plenty of other cases like this in the future.