A man has won a $750,000 (£608,900) lawsuit after suing the man who slept with his wife, thanks to an old 'homewrecker' law.
Kevin Howard, from the US state of North Carolina, was gutted when he realised that the woman he'd been married to for 12 years was having an affair.
According to court documents, a judgement of 'alienation of affections' went in Kevin's favour. The claim exists in just a handful of other states across the US.
Luckily for Kevin, his home state of North Carolina is one of them; the law was used to sue his ex's lover.
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The law, which has been dubber the 'homewrecker' law, means that a spouse can sue another person for 'purposefully interfering with the marital relationship' and 'wooing their partner away'.
Kevin, who is now divorced, had said that his marriage started to struggle after 12 years. She approached him about separating, but instead he and his wife attended marriage counselling.
Speaking to WITN, Kevin said: "She had originally told me that she wanted a divorce because I work too much, wasn't around to be there and I worked too much. I talked about that as part of my mistake in the situation, but it was like a punch in the gut because I thought I had this trust for 12 years and love."
But Kevin still thought that 'something felt off' and decided to hire a private investigator. The affair was then uncovered.
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He said it was almost unbearable, telling the news outlet: "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to face - it was like someone calling you and telling you that a family member had tragically died."
Kevin used the law as he felt like the man was his friend but had intended to break up the marriage and he wants people to remember how important marriage is.
He added: "[The man] came to my house and ate dinner with us. We shared stories, we talked about personal lives.
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"I filed the case because I feel that it's very important that people understand that the sanctity of marriage is important, especially in this day and age when people question everyone's morals. People question everyone's liability of a person and the state backed me up on it."
The alienation of affections law is recognised in six states in the US - North Carolina, Hawaii, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota and Utah.
Featured Image Credit: WITNTopics: US News