[ASE] 750,000 dollars in damages for cuckolded husband
750,000 dollars in damages for cuckolded husband
Mon Jan 7, 7:08 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A Mississippi businessman must pay more than 750,000
dollars in damages to the man whose wife he wooed away, after the US Supreme
Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal in the case.
In 1997, Sandra Valentine began working for Jerry Fitch, a wealthy realtor
and successful businessman.
When she gave birth to a daughter two years later, it quickly became
apparent that her boss -- not her plumber husband -- was the baby's father.
The couple divorced a short time later, after legal proceedings in which she
acknowledged an adulterous relationship with Fitch, whom she tied the knot
with a short time later.
But armed with the admission of adultery, betrayed ex-husband Johnny
Valentine decided to sue Fitch, based on an antiquated Mississippi state law
permitting a cuckolded spouse to seek damages for "loss of society,
companionship, love and affection," as well as "the loss of sexual
relations."
About a half dozen US states have similar "alienation of affection" laws on
the book.
The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld a jury verdict awarding some 750,000
dollars to Valentine.
Fitch, who decried the verdict as unconstitutional, "antiquated" and based
on "medieval notions" about marriage and property, appealed to the
Mississippi Supreme Court which refused to overturn the verdict.
His appeal of last resort failed on Monday when the US Supreme Court
declined to take up the case.
"When I was laying up dreaming, I felt like I could just stay there and dream
forever. But that's the thing, it's a DREAM! And that's all it was gonna be if
I kept my eyes closed and laid there. So, I opened my eyes, got up out of bed,
came back to reality and went out and pursued my dreams." - Alex Butterfield
Amy Billman
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