In many states, there’s no punishment for adultery. But in North Carolina, it can be a serious offense, as one man came to realize last Thursday.

A judge ordered Francisco Huizar III to pay $8.8 million to Keith King, whose wife he had been seeing for 16 months.

Why so much? Well, most of the money awarded consisted of punitive damages, solely meant to penalize the defendant. But about $2.2 million of it was in compensatory, or tangible damages.

King’s attorney, Joanne Foil, said that after finding out about the ongoing infidelity of his wife, Danielle Swords, his company lost revenue and an employee — his wife. The pair eventually separated.

King filed the suit on grounds of criminal conversation, alienation of affection, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and assault and battery.

How the affair played out

Swords and Huizar met at a bike show in 2015, a little more than five years after she and her husband got married.

Swords (who previously went by Danielle King) was in New York to see a bike show put on by her husband’s company, King BMX Stunt Shows. Huizar, a Texas resident, was working at the event.

Huizar pursued Swords, Foil wrote in an email to CNN.

In the following months, Huizar positioned himself near Swords when he could. He rented a room down the street from the King household. When King treated his wife to a spa day, Huizar joined her. When King treated his wife to a trip for her birthday, he stayed in a nearby hotel, Foil said.

King first noticed inappropriate texts between the pair. Later, Swords recorded video of an altercation between King and Huizar. Huizar allegedly put King in a chokehold after he became irate, which prompted the assault and battery charge.

Swords did not respond to CNN’s attempts to contact her.

King provided call logs, hotel receipts and social media posts to the court as evidence.

Huizar’s attorney, Cheri Patrick, claimed her client did not break up their marriage because it was already in decline.

“Verdicts like these ignore the realities of how and why marriages fail, and remove personal responsibility for a person’s own marriage,” she said. “There are no winners in these cases.”

Patrick and Huizar will appeal the decision. (CNN)

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