Late last week, a former member of the Apex Town Council sued North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore for "alienation of affection" and "criminal conversation," domestic torts claims that are currently recognized in only a handful of states. Scott Lassiter, now an assistant principal in Wake County, alleges that Moore engaged in a years-long extramarital affair with the plaintiff's wife, Jamie Liles Lassiter, from whom he is now separated. The complaint also includes causes of action for conspiracy, trespass, conversion, and invasion of privacy against an unknown "Defendant John Doe" for allegedly entering Lassiter's property to install a motion-activated surveillance camera. The suit seeks more than $25,000 in damages.
House Speaker Moore and Lassiter's wife both criticized the lawsuit to the media this weekend, with Moore calling the claims "baseless" and Liles Lassiter describing the filing as an "outrageous and defamatory suit" from her "soon to be ex-husband. Our marriage was a nightmare, and since I left him it has gotten worse."
The salacious complaint, which includes photograph exhibits as well as intimate details of conversations between the parties, illustrates why so-called "heart balm" causes of action have fallen into disfavor in most jurisdictions. Alienation of affection involves a spouse suing a third party for interfering with the marriage’s companionship and affections, while criminal conversation is related to adultery (or in the words of the North Carolina Court of Appeals, "based on the violation of the fundamental right to exclusive sexual intercourse between spouses," Scott v. Kiker, 297 S.E.2d 142 (1982)). Over the years, scholars and practitioners criticized the torts as increasingly antiquated and sexist, and many legislatures and courts have prohibited their use. (North Carolina, too, amended section 52-13 of the General Statutes in 2009 to restrict the causes of action only to cases against natural persons, and only in situations where the spouses had not physically separated with intent to permanently remain apart.) For a brief history of these torts up to 2009, see Jamie Heard, Comment, The National Trend of Abolishing Actions for the Alienation of a Spouse's Affection and Mississippi's Refusal to Follow Suit, 28 Miss. Col. L. Rev. 313 (2009), available online.
More information about these causes of actions in North Carolina is available in the Goodson Law Library, as well as electronically to the Duke Law community. The treatise Domestic Torts: Civil Lawsuits Arising From Criminal Conduct Within Family Relationships, 2d (KF1269 .D65 2023 & online in Westlaw) shows in Appendix D that as of January 2023, the vast majority of U.S. states have abolished causes of action for alienation of affection, criminal conversation, and/or the related torts of breach of promise to marry and seduction. The appendix indicates that all four causes of action are recognized only in Hawaii, Missouri, New Mexico, and North Carolina; notes show that other states recognize some selection of these claims, but may have placed significant legislative restrictions on their use.
For information specific to North Carolina, a number of treatises and other secondary sources provide detailed information. Chapter 11 of the North Carolina Law of Torts (NC Alcove KFN7595 .D39 2012 & online in Lexis) details Injury to Marital Relation, detailing elements of these claims and citing case law. The North Carolina Prima Facie Tort Manual (NC Alcove KFN7595 .N66 2017 & online in Lexis) similarly includes chapters for alienation of affections (chapter 3) and criminal conversation (chapter 10). North Carolina Family Law Practice (NC Alcove KFN7494 .K44 2008 & online in Westlaw) covers both torts in chapter 5's sections on Rights of Spouses Against Third Parties.
For additional resources on North Carolina state law, check out the Law Library's research guide to North Carolina Practice. For help locating items in the guide or other resources on domestic tort claims, be sure to Ask a Librarian.
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