Wow...

The price of an affair? $9 million
Thursday, March 18, 2010
(Updated Friday, March 19 - 5:18 am)
By Jennifer Fernandez
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO — A jury in Guilford County District Court this week awarded $9 million to a former Greensboro woman, agreeing that her husband’s lover ruined their marriage.

Cynthia Shackelford, 60, who now lives in Raleigh, sued Anne Lundquist in 2007 for having an affair with her husband, Allan Shackelford.

In the lawsuit, Cynthia Shackelford said her husband began an affair with Lundquist before the Shackelfords separated in April 2005. She said she and her husband were still in love when Lundquist broke up the marriage.

Cynthia Shackelford said in a telephone interview Wednesday that her husband, a Greensboro attorney at the time, met Lundquist while providing legal services for Guilford College. Lundquist was the dean of campus life at the private school.

“If you want to know the truth, I am still like in a fog,” Cynthia Shackelford said.

She said the two-day trial, which ended Tuesday, was difficult. Testimony included the private investigator detailing times that he saw her husband spending time with Lundquist, she said.

“I really loved him, and I really thought he loved me,” Cynthia Shackelford said. “I had not a clue that Allan would wander. He kept telling me 'Oh, she’s just a friend. There’s no affair. I love you.’”

Lundquist did not return a call late Wednesday afternoon. She is the dean of students at Wells College, according to the Web site of the small private school in central New York.

In 2007, she and Allan Shackelford co-authored a book through LRP Publications .

Court records show the Shackelfords’ divorce has not been finalized. Cynthia Shackelford said she believes Lundquist and her husband are still a couple.

The jury awarded Cynthia Shackelford money for alienation of affections, criminal conversation (legal speak for adultery) and intentionally or recklessly causing severe emotional distress.

North Carolina remains one of a few states that allow someone to sue the person alleged to have interfered in a marriage — called alienation of affections. More than 200 such cases are filed statewide in an average year, according to the Rosen law firm in Raleigh.

The firm cites several high-dollar cases over the years, but none near the mark of the Shackelford-Lundquist case.

In 1997, separate juries awarded $1 million in an Alamance County case and $1.2 million in a Forsyth County case.

In 2001, a jury awarded $1.4 million to a distraught husband in Mecklenburg County. On appeal, the court reversed the decision on $910,000 of the award but left about $500,000 for the husband.

Collecting money in such awards can be difficult but is not impossible, said Will Jordan, the Greensboro attorney who represented Cynthia Shackelford.

“We may not get the full $9 million, but I’m hopeful that we’ll collect a substantial sum of money,” he said. “In addition to just collecting the judgment, there’s a certain amount of validation or vindication that goes with having a jury acknowledge that you were done wrong.”

Cynthia Shackelford said she gave up teaching to raise two children and support her husband’s career. After the marriage fell apart, she moved in with friends because she couldn’t afford an apartment.

Court records show that Allan Shackelford has never paid court-ordered spousal support and faces arrest on a contempt of court charge for violating that support order.

Cynthia Shackelford, who eventually moved to Raleigh, wanted others to know about her case.

“We would like for people to respect the sanctity of marriage,” Cynthia Shackelford said. “We wanted a number high enough that it would keep other people from ... going after other married spouses.”

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com

I remember first reading about this in 2007. Apparently Lundquist is planning to appeal.

Also, check out Doug Clark's blog. Mr. Shackelford himself leaves some comments, as does his daughter and son.