A resident of North Carolina said that his divorce was almost unbearable, but unusual legal action brought him $750 thousand. According to court records, Kevin Howard recently won a lawsuit against the former wife’s lover for «alienation of affection». Such a claim can be submitted only in several US States.
The law on alienation of affection allows a spouse to sue another person for «intentional interference with the marital relationship,» according to Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute. The person against whom the claim is filed, it is usually the person who was unfaithful adulterer.
Kevin lived with his wife of 12 years. When she told him that she wants a divorce, the couple began to see the therapist. However, something told Kevin to hire a private detective, who discovers the affair of his wife, as described later, Howard CNN.
A man in #NorthCarolina just won a $750,000 lawsuit based on a «homewrecker» law, a type that now exists in just a handful of states across the country https://t.co/wg0oFOJp64 pic.twitter.com/wUtblY1ODH (via@CNN)
— News Junkie (@Newzjunkie_) October 3, 2019
Kevin was accused of another man that he alienated his wife from him, and the judge ruled in his favor. «He was her colleague,» says Kevin. «Several times he dined with us, we spent time together… I considered him a friend».
However, he explains that have filed the lawsuit not for the money. «I believe in the sanctity of marriage,» he said. «Other families need to see that it is not only a violation of the vows of your religion, but there are legal consequences.»
CNN was unable to contact the defendant.
Cynthia mills, the lawyer of Kevin, said that his 31-year career she’s had at least 30 such cases. At the moment she has opened 5 cases.
To be able to win in court, deceived husband should prove that to the novel, the couple was happy, and between them stood her lover. In other words, what in the way of relationships stood the third man, which led to the collapse of the marriage.
Mills explained that originally it was an old English law, when a woman was seen as property of men. Just as a man could file a claim after the theft of the horse, he could file a claim after the theft of his wife. Now the claim may be submitted by any person, regardless of gender.
Mills said that, in most cases, it’s not about the money. «The idea is to keep the sanctity of marriage and keep the family together,» she explains. Although people still can get some money when withdrawn in the court of their former. For example, in 2010 one of her clients received $5.9 million And last year a judge ruled that the man had paid $8.8 million to the husband, whose wife he visited more than a year.
