A Texas man's affair with a North Carolina man's wife will cost him nearly $9 million dollars after the husband sued, citing an obscure law.
Durham County Superior Court judge Orlando Hudson awarded BMX stunt show owner, Kieth King, more than $2.2 million in compensatory damages, and three times that in punitive damages from Francisco Huizar III of San Antonio, Texas.
The jilted husband was awarded the $8.8 million after he claimed Huizar seduced his wife and ruined his marriage. King filed a civil complaint against Huizar in April 2017, accusing the San Antonio man of criminal conversation, alienation of affection, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and assault and battery.
"What I've endured, I've compared it to a nuclear bomb going on around my surroundings," King told WSOC-TV.
North Carolina allows spouses to file lawsuits against people for "criminal conversation" when a person has sex with another married person before separation, as well as for "alienation of affection," which is when "genuine love and affection" in a marriage has been destroyed by another person. King had to prove in court that had been in a happy marriage and that it had been destroyed by Huizar's intentions and actions toward his wife.
During the trial, King's attorney, Joanne Foil, said the affair and an alleged assault by Huizar cost King's company money and an employee (his wife, Danielle King worked for the BMX stunt show company he operated), requiring him to spend more money on household help, child care and counseling.
However, according to the attorney for King's wife, King controlled Danielle King's access to money, manipulated her, looked through her phone, and put her to work at his company without any pay.
Danielle says she was the one who pursued Huizar and that she had been unhappy in her marriage from the very beginning.
Huizar's attorney, Cheri Patrick says they plan on appealing the decision.