North Carolina Wife Sues Husband's Mistress for $6 Million for Emotional Distress - and Wins

Fabulous. You have to hand it to American lawmakers - they think of things the rest of us never would. Imagine a woman seduces your husband, or is happily seduced by him, and off the pair of them go together without a second thought for you, your long marriage, your children, your future or the broken family left behind.

And then you sue her for six million dollars.

That's exactly what betrayed wife Cynthia Shackelford did when another woman started sleeping with her husband.

Cynthia won $6,000,000 from her husband's mistress, Anne Lundquist, in March 2010 after suing her for "alienation of affection, criminal conversation (a legal term for adultery) and intentionally or recklessly causing severe emotional distress."

The mistress gets to keep Mr Shackleton but he's turned out to be a very expensive purchase.

Mrs Shackelford, 60, gave up a teaching career in order to raise the couple's two children and support husband Allan's career. Ironically, he's a lawyer. She argued before the jury that there were no significant problems in the marriage or family till 49-year-old mistress, Lundquist, set her sights on Allan, 62.

"I really loved him" she said "and I really thought he loved me. I hadn't a clue Allan would wander. He kept telling me 'Oh, she's just a friend. There's no affair. I love you'."

Miss Lundquist is quite outraged by the judgement and damages awarded, calling the ruling "ludicrous".

Nevertheless, the jury in Greensboro, North Carolina, agreed with Mrs Shackelford that Miss Lundquist had no right to be hopping in and out of bed with another woman's husband.

North Carolina is one of several American states which allows husbands and wives to sue a third party they believe has destroyed their marriage.

After the judgement, speaking of the six million dollar fine, Mrs Shackelford said she believes people should "respect the sanctity of marriage
Miss Lundquist says she doesn't have six million dollars and will appeal the judgement against her. "I certainly don't have that kind of money nor will I ever." Still, she lives with Mr Shackelford, in Aurora, New York - maybe she can borrow the cash from him?

Over 200 "alienation of affection" cases are filed in North Carolina every year. The 'anti-cheats' legislation used to exist in many US states but was all but dropped by the early 20th century. After the Shackelford judgement it looks like mistresses need to know that if they're on the lookout for a married man they'd better steer clear of North Carolina, Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico and Utah where the law still applies.

The risks certainly might have made Rielle 'John Edwards' Hunter and Michelle 'Jesse James' McGee think twice before stepping out of their knickers.

In states where the law applies, mistresses can be found guilty even where extramarital sex is not proven - a betrayed wife can still demonstrate that the love in her marriage was "alienated" by the mistress's "malicious conduct."

Mrs Shackelford's lawyer, Will Jordan, said that although it would be hard to get all six million dollars from Miss Lundquist he was hoping to collect "a substantial sum". For his client he added, using what I guess is a good ol' southern phrase, "there's a certain amount of validation or vindication that goes with having a jury acknowledge that you were done wrong."

I wonder if Mrs Shackelford can also sue her husband for breach of the marriage contract....