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(CNN) - A man from North Carolina says his divorce was almost unbearable, but an unusual lawsuit led him to win a $ 750,000 sentence.
According to court documents, Kevin Howard recently won a trial against his ex-wife's lover for "alienation of affections," a lawsuit that exists in only a handful of other states across the country, according to court documents.
The laws of alienation of affection, sometimes known as "home destroyer" laws, allow the spouse to sue another person for "deliberately interfering with the marriage relationship," according to the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School. The defendant is usually the person with whom one spouse deceived the other.
Howard had been with his wife for 12 years. When she told him that she wanted to separate, the couple began attending couples therapy. But something didn't feel right, so Howard hired a private investigator, who discovered the matter, told CNN.
Howard blamed the other man for driving his wife away from him, according to court records. In August, a judge ruled in favor of Howard.
"He was a colleague of his from work," Howard said. "He had dinner with us several times, we spent time together ... I thought he was a friend."
But the demand was not just for the money, he said.
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"I believe in the sanctity of marriage," he said. "Other families should see what the consequences are not only of breaking the vote to any religion to which they subscribe, but also of their legal responsibilities."
CNN has not been able to communicate with the accused.
Cases of alienation of affection are 'very frequent'
Cynthia Mills, Howard's lawyer, told CNN that she has brought at least 30 cases of "alienation of affection" during her 31-year career. She has five cases of the type open at this time.
"It's very frequent," he said.
To have the opportunity to win the lawsuit, a deceived spouse should be able to prove that the couple was happy before the adventure and that a lover got in between them. In other words, that a third party got in the way of the relationship and caused its debacle.
Mills said the grievance began with the old English law, when women were seen as property. In the same way that a man could sue for the theft of a horse, he could sue for the theft of a wife. Now, any spouse can sue regardless of gender or partner.
In many of Mills' cases, it's not really about money, he told CNN.
"The idea is to keep the marriage sanctified and keep the family together," he said.
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But people still made a good booty taking their ex to court.
In 2010, Mills said one of his clients received a verdict of $ 5.9 million.
Last year, a judge ordered a man to pay $ 8.8 million to a husband whose wife had been watching for more than a year. Most of the money awarded consisted of punitive damages intended to penalize the defendant, but $ 2.2 million was in compensatory or tangible damages.
Many states have repealed the laws of alienation of affection, but they still exist in Hawaii, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and, of course, North Carolina.
Divorce
