{"id":1651,"date":"2019-12-08T19:56:24","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T19:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=1651"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:52:52","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:52:52","slug":"under-n-c-s-homewrecker-law-adultery-can-be-costly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/12\/08\/under-n-c-s-homewrecker-law-adultery-can-be-costly\/","title":{"rendered":"Under N.C.\u2019s \u2018homewrecker law,\u2019 adultery can be costly"},"content":{"rendered":"
Danielle King said her affair was over. But on Nov. 23, 2015, her husband Keith King realized her sexual liaisons were continuing.<\/span><\/p>\n Looking through phone records, he noticed Danielle and her illicit lover Francisco Huizar III were still communicating \u2013 every day. Keith got so mad he picked up his daughter\u2019s high chair tray and slammed it against a table. The noise startled his 2-year-old Elle Annemarie King, who was one room away with Danielle.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Over the next year, Keith thought the marriage was healing. Danielle, who has blond hair and a big smile, had been posting on Facebook about family trips and their joyful child.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But then he got a troubling clue from the OnStar system in Danielle\u2019s car. In August 2016, she and Elle were supposedly driving back from Danielle\u2019s parents\u2019 house in Richmond, Virginia. She was running late, so Keith activated the OnStar system and noticed her car was going north on Interstate 95 when it should have gone south. It was headed to Alexandria, Virginia, where Keith knew Huizar had been in the past.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Danielle had retrieved Huizar from Virginia, dropped Elle off at home, and met Huizar at a hotel, according to a lawsuit.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2017, Keith sued Huizar for having sex with his wife and breaking up his marriage. A year later, Durham Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson awarded Keith $8.8 million in punitive and compensatory damages from Huizar under a little-known state law.<\/span><\/p>\n Yes, people in North Carolina can sue an illicit lover for having sex with their spouse; it\u2019s called criminal conversation. Or for breaking up their marriage; that\u2019s alienation of affection.<\/span><\/p>\n North Carolina is one of six states with the laws \u2014 along with Hawaii, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Utah. There are about 200 alienation of affection cases in North Carolina each year, according to North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts records.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been around forever,\u201d said Adam Bull, who has argued several alienation of affection suits throughout his 30 years as a North Carolina attorney. \u201cMost people probably understand the moral sense it\u2019s wrong; they don\u2019t understand they can be sued for it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n After the $8.8 million suit, Huizar filed bankruptcy. Danielle and Keith still aren\u2019t done with court. In November 2019, the Court of Appeals considered Danielle\u2019s claim for primary custody of Elle Annemarie. The parties are awaiting the verdict.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2018Marriage on trial\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n A fundamental step in these unusual adultery cases is \u201cputting the marriage on trial,\u201d said Kim Bonuomo, who represents defendants in these cases. To win, plaintiffs have to show they had a fairly stable marriage, and the illicit lover broke it up.<\/span><\/p>\n Plaintiffs use letters, photos, family vacations, and descriptions of their sexual activity to prove their marriage was stable before the intruder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Keith\u2019s evidence? He and Danielle volunteered and went to church together. They had sex. Danielle started a \u201cGood Mommies Club\u201d as a part of a Mommies United group on Facebook. She even thanked Keith for one of \u201cthe coolest jobs ever\u201d with his BMX company on Facebook.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But he said Huizar changed everything. \u201cMy marriage was murdered. It was destroyed,\u201d Keith said during an interview with WRAL in 2018. \u201cWhat I\u2019ve endured is, I compare it to like a nuclear bomb going off around my surroundings,\u201d he told Good Morning America in 2018.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In many cases, it\u2019s hard to discern how much of a role the intruder had in the marriage downfall. Bonuomo said she\u2019s never seen a perfectly stable marriage before the affair.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And blaming the illicit lover gets even messier if there were multiple affairs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c(Were they) the cause of the breakup of the marriage just because they were the last person (the spouse) had an affair with?\u201d Bonuomo often wonders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2018She\u2019s my wife, man!\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n On Jan. 19, 2017, five months after the clandestine trip to retrieve Huizar, Danielle told Keith that her parents were helping her rent an apartment. Huizar, she said, wasn\u2019t even in the state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The next day, Keith texted Danielle to ask her to watch Elle while he drove pain medication to his father. But Danielle said she couldn\u2019t; the apartment bathroom lights were out, and she couldn\u2019t fix the breaker.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Later in the day, Keith drove over to Danielle\u2019s apartment to fix the breaker. But when he arrived, Huizar opened the door. Moments later, Huizar held Keith in a choke hold as Keith cried and pleaded, \u201cShe\u2019s my wife, man! She\u2019s my wife. That is my wife, man!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Danielle stood back, catching it all on video.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Effective law?<\/b><\/p>\n Alienation of affection and criminal conversation cases can only be brought against an illicit lover \u2014 there\u2019s no direct recourse against the spouse. But even though an adulterous spouse may not be sued, Bull said they may still get involved in the case.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey sometimes end up settling with their spouses so they can leave their new boyfriend or girlfriend out of the picture.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Bull says the law deters some people from committing adultery.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t agree with that,\u201d Bonuomo said. \u201cUltimately, these cases don\u2019t come up until the marriage is already over.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In 1984, the North Carolina Court of Appeals successfully overturned alienation of affection in Cannon v. Miller, but then the Supreme Court reversed the ruling. In 2009, the General Assembly approved some limits to the law. The affair had to happen before the spouses separated, and the plaintiff has to sue within three years of the affair.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s unlikely that legislators will overturn the law; no North Carolina politician wants to be portrayed as disregarding the sanctity of marriage, Bonuomo said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But she doesn\u2019t find the adultery law, which implicates only the illicit lover, to fit in many cases.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cUsually, the marriage is already broken. It would be a very, very rare situation for the underlying marriage to reconcile at that point,\u201d Bonuomo said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And once there\u2019s a lawsuit, she said the chances of reconciling the marriage can only get worse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u2018Rooted and Antiquated\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n Alienation of affection and criminal conversation are non-statutory law derived from prior judicial decisions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the belief of many practitioners that these torts are rooted and antiquated ways of thinking that women were considered to be the property of their husbands,\u201d Bonuomo said.<\/span><\/p>\n But just because the law is old doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s defunct, Bull said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAre they old? Yes. So are basic principles, like the statute of frauds. But does that mean they should be replaced or no longer serve a purpose? I would disagree with that. Otherwise, there\u2019s not a remedy that\u2019s available to the injured spouse,\u201d Bull said.<\/span><\/p>\n Societal norms change, but the adultery law protects monogamous marriage, supporters say. Bull says people should keep monogamy and consent in mind when they\u2019re dating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s in the initial process that you should be ferreting out, \u2018Hey, is this person single?\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cBefore you go much past holding hands, my advice to you is that you pull out your phone, hit record, and make sure they (give consent.)\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Animosity and Acrimony<\/b><\/p>\n Following the $8.8 million ruling, Huizar filed bankruptcy. And in Dec. 2017, the Kings divorced.<\/span><\/p>\n On Nov. 13, 2019, the King love triangle appeared on the North Carolina Court of Appeals docket, but this time with a new plaintiff: Danielle. She brought a child support and custody appeal.<\/span><\/p>\n In January 2017, the District Court in Durham gave Danielle and Keith split custody of Elle Annemarie, but Danielle wants primary custody. She also claims Keith assaulted her and caused her emotional distress.<\/span><\/p>\n Bonuomo doesn\u2019t expect alienation of affection cases to end smoothly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI just wonder about the animosity and the acrimony that continues to envelop the family long term when there is an alienation of affection case filed,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat bothers me is that some of these really keep the fabric of the family ripped apart.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Danielle King said her affair was over. But on Nov. 23, 2015, her husband Keith King realized her sexual liaisons were continuing. Looking through phone…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-1651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-courthouse-project","tag-civil-court","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n