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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 Kevin Howard, Greenville, N.C.

For Howard, the case is about more than the money, it’s about the emotional damage from the experience wrought by a man he considered a friend. According to CNN, the wife’s lover was her colleague from work who ate dinner several times with the Howard family.

Howard said the divorce 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,” he told local WITN news.

The suit was also about promoting respect for marriage, Howard said. “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.”

While states such as Kentucky have struck down its alien of affection law, the law has been upheld in North Carolina as recently as 2010. There, some 200 cases are filed each year. These include a 2018 case involving Keith King, who sued for $8.8 million after his wife left him for another man.

Lawyers are split on the usefulness of the law. While alienation of affection cases may afford the injured party some compensation for their emotional pain, they slow and tax the legal system. Howard’s lawyer Cindy Mills, however, says the cases are like personal injury cases. “you get damages if someone has a wreck and hurts you very badly, you get damages for that,” she told WITN.

Howard had two children with his ex-wife, according to his Facebook account. He is the business owner of G-Vegas Magazine and majored in music at East Carolina State University. He is a member of the local Greenville Moose Lodge and ran for public office in 2011.