Jury returns $1.3M verdict over ‘alienation of affection’

Action: Tort

Amount: $1.3 million

Injuries alleged: Alienation of affection

Case name: Fish v. Stetina

Court/case no.: Catawba County Superior Court/No. 22 CVS 931

Jury and/or judge: Jury/Judge Nathaniel J. Poovey

Date of verdict: March 14, 2023

High-low agreement: No

Most helpful expert’s name: Clark Walton of Charlotte

Attorney for plaintiff: Clark D. Tew of Pope McMillan, Statesville

Attorney for defense: Pete McArdle of Arnold & Smith, Charlotte

The plaintiff and their spouse were married for 19 years. According to the plaintiff’s counsel, in the last year and a half prior to separation, the defendant began a long-distance relationship with the plaintiff’s spouse, primarily consisting of hundreds of hours of telephone calls with the plaintiff’s spouse and including evidence of two pre-separation meetings between the two of them during which the plaintiff argued that the pair had inclination and opportunity to have sexual relations. When the defendant’s divorce was finalized with his spouse, the plaintiff’s spouse left the marital home with intent to remain separate and apart, and within five months the pair had two other trips to see each other and commenced a formal romantic relationship.