Wife wins $9m from the chick on the side who stole her husband

James Bone, New York & , : {}

A spurned wife has made her husbands mistress pay for ruining their marriage literally by suing her successfully for $9 million.

Cynthia Shackelford used a centuries-old North Carolina law to sue her husbands lover, Anne Lundquist, for alienation of affection.

A jury ordered Ms Lundquist to pay $5 million (3.3 million) in compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages for breaking up the Shackelfords 33-year marriage. My main message is to all those women out there who might have their eyes on some guy that is married to not come between anybody, Ms Shackelford told the ABC Good Morning America programme yesterday.

As long as a couple are living together as man and wife, same house, same bedroom, same bed: lay off. she said. My children are devastated. Im devastated.

Related LinksTigerText, the app that keeps adultery secretCurry killer wanted to stop lover marrying rivalDid you hear?

Allan Shackelford, 62, a lawyer, met Ms Lundquist while providing legal advice to the North Carolina college where she was a dean. In her lawsuit Ms Shackelford, 60, who quit her job as a teacher to raise the couples two children, claimed that Ms Lundquist began deliberately to seduce her husband in about November 2004.

Ms Shackelford hired a private investigator who watched the lovers spending time together at the family home in Greensboro. The Shackelfords separated in 2005 and are seeking a divorce. Ms Shackelford says that her husband was ordered to pay her $5,000 a month in alimony but has yet to do so.

North Carolina is one of only seven states in the US that still has an alienation of affection statute on its books. Lawmakers have refused to repeal it because they do not want to be seen as condoning adultery.

Mr Shackelford says that he and his wife had a troubled marriage before he met Ms Lundquist, 49, and had gone through three rounds of failed counselling. Their marriage did not break up because of Anne Lundquist, he wrote in a post on the Greensboro News-Records website. It ended because of the problems that Allan Shackelford and Cynthia Shackelford created for themselves.

But, Cynthia Shackelford was never prepared to look in the mirror and take responsibility for her own mistakes. I know, because I am Allan Shackelford.

The couples children, 23 and 27, reacted badly to their parents break-up. Their daughter Amy also went public on the News-Record site, claiming that her father had emotionally abandoned his entire family for the last five years.

Ms Lundquist said that she would appeal. Im so caught off guard by everything, she said. I dont have a lot of money, so where this $9 million comes from is kind of hysterical.

"Cheating" and the law

Alienation of affection lawsuits are allowed in Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota and Utah. They are a rare case of the paramour rather than the spouse being forced to pay the aggrieved husband or wife

Plaintiffs must prove that the marriage was loving, that this love was injured and destroyed and that the defendant contributed to this loss of affection

Please note, says one North Carolina lawyer, extramarital sex is not required. Flirting, going on dates, kissing and other intimate activities can be enough