Margie Cox got her man, but he came with a $1 million bill.
A jury awarded the money to Dorothy Hutelmyer, the wife whom Joseph Hutelmyer left for Cox.A civil lawsuit contended that Cox had an affair with Joseph Hutelmyer, 43, and destroyed his relationship with Dorothy Hutelmyer, 40.
Cox, who has married Joseph Hutelmyer, was hit with two $500,000 penalties.
"It's easy to be cynical and it's easy to be jaded with all the folks who have affairs," Dorothy Hutelmyer's lawyer, James Walker, said after Tuesday's ruling.
The Hutelmyers "had a storybook marriage," Walker said. "He wrote poetry to her, a romantic kind of guy."
North Carolina is one of a dozen or so states that allow alienation-of-affection lawsuits. Such actions date back to the 1700s, when women were considered property.