Philanderers Beware!

It seemed commonplace enough, if not innocent. In fact, nobody thought it was innocent, but it happens all the time, right? No big deal. "Not so fast," said a judge in Illinois, and German Blinov is now $4,803.00 poorer as a result of his philandering ways.
Blinov and Natalie Friedman became "friends" with the acquiescence of her husband, according to Natalie. That the relationship blossomed into something of a romance was a sidelight to the whole thing...but not according to Arthur Friedman. Strangely, he did not dispute his wife's contention that she was allowed to have "friendships" outside the home, but he did seem to take umbrage with the fact that this particular arrangement led to love. He sued for "alienation of affection" and was awarded the previously-mentioned sum as compensation for losing his wife to Blinov by a Cook County, Illinois, judge.
A hasty check through the files of Google showed me that there are eight states in the U.S. in which such a thing can occur. While it does seem less than newsworthy for relationships to break up more and more often these days (50% of all first marriages and 75% of all second marriages, according to statistics), getting sued for such romantic wanderings hardly seems to fit the trends of society. In case you're wondering about those eight states, the list, in alphabetical order, is this: Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi,New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota and Utah. That's quite a far-flung variety, and maybe not what one might have suspected...ok,ok...I did suspect Utah. I guess I would have also thought about conservative, Bible-belt states as being more represented, but not so. I suppose Texas, for example, allows duelling instead, and with so many states enacting concealed-carry gun laws, perhaps getting sued for stealing someone's gal (or fella) might just be the least painful payback.
I, for one, will continue to be true to my honey and check out any old laws on the books before I move anywhere!