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“Homewrecker Law” Makes Another Victim After NASCAR Driver’s Ordered To Pay Large Sum To Woman Over Affair
Having an affair with a married man just became a colossally expensive endeavor for NASCAR truck driver Jennifer Jo Cobb.
A North Carolina jury ordered Jennifer to pay a hefty sum to Tracey Hughes for destroying her 17-year marriage to Clayton Odie Hughes.
Tracey had accused Jennifer of “intentionally and deliberately” seducing her husband and dishonoring their “marital bed.”
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Highlights
- Scorned wife Tracey Hughes dragged her husband’s alleged lover to court for destroying their marriage.
- She accused NASCAR driver Jennifer Jo Cobb of helping her husband hide their affair while their “marital bed was dishonored.”
- Tracey asked the court to award her damages for “alienation of affection” and “criminal conversation.”
- North Carolina is one of the few states where people can be sued under the “homewrecker law.”
An affair with a married man cost NASCAR truck driver Jennifer Jo Cobb a colossally large amount
Using the framework of North Carolina’s “homewrecker law,” Tracey Hughes filed a lawsuit saying her life came to a standstill after Jennifer Jo Cobb allegedly had an affair with her husband Clayton Odie Hughes.
She claimed their affair brought their 17-year-old marriage to an end in January, 2021.
Clayton was reportedly a longtime NASCAR spotter since 2003.
Tracey, who also worked in NASCAR and shared two children with Clayton, said she was devastated when her marriage came to an end.
“I felt like my whole world had just blown up,” she told WFMY.
She decided to take control of matters and file a lawsuit under the state’s homewrecker law.
“The lawsuit gave me power,” she told the outlet. “It empowered me, it gave me focus. It gave me a job to do and stand up for myself.”
“I felt like my whole world had just blown up,” the jilted wife said about the end of her marriage
In Tracey’s lawsuit filed in 2024, she accused Jennifer of alienation of affection, claiming she encouraged Clayton to lie about their trips. She also allegedly helped him keep their relationship a secret.
The former NASCAR star “willfully, intentionally and deliberately seduced, enticed, and alienated the affections” of Clayton in the months that led up to their 2021 split.
She further claimed Clayton and Jennifer’s salacious relationship “invaded and ended” the “exclusive rights and privileges” of her marriage.
Their “marital bed was dishonored” as well, she alleged.
Tracey’s attorney John Vermitsky believed Clayton’s marriage to his client had many noteworthy elements.
He would write his wife love notes throughout their marriage, leaving cards for her on anniversaries, birthdays, and even Easter Sundays.
The latest love note came inside an anniversary card just 11 days before they began moving forward with their separation.
Jennifer was accused of helping Clayton hide their affair, while their “marital bed was dishonored”
Citing her complaints, Tracey asked the court to award her damages for alienation of affection and criminal conversation, two civil torts (a basis for bringing a lawsuit) that allow a spouse to sue a third party for having intimate relations with their marital partner.
“Alienation of affection is any wrongful act that a third party does to diminish the feelings of affection of one spouse for another, and it actually doesn’t require s**,” Tracey’s attorney explained.
The jilted wife had sought more than $25,000 in damages for each claim, in addition to more than $25,000 in punitive damages.
Davidson County jurors found Jennifer liable for both claims and concluded that $50,000 must be paid in damages for “maliciously and wrongfully caus[ing] alienation” on September 24.
The claim about criminal conversation produced a staggering award of $800,000.
Jennifer was also liable for $1 in punitive damages for each claim, thus bringing the total award to Tracey to $850,002.
Jennifer has to pay $850,002 for alienation of affection and criminal conversation
John said his client broke down in court when the verdict was read out loud.
“It was a relief. You could feel the relief in the person next to you,” the attorney said.
For Tracey, the amount of money was secondary. Her primary purpose was achieving some form of justice after an affair allegedly caused the breakdown of her marriage.
“It’s more important, I think, to be vindicated. The money figure was, I think, just a statement maybe by the jury,” she said.
These so-called “homewrecker” laws are extremely rare in the U.S., with states like North Carolina, Mississippi, Utah, South Dakota, and Hawaii recognizing alienation-of-affection claims.
Earlier this year, Former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was sued for allegedly destroying a 14-year marriage in North Carolina.
Heather Ammel sued the former senator, seeking at least $75,000 for her romantic relationship with her husband Matthew Ammel.
She claimed she had “a good and loving marriage” prior to the former lawmaker’s interference, which included text messages that “exceeded the bounds of a normal working relationship and were of romantic and lascivious natures.”
North Carolina is one of the select states where people can be sued under the “homewrecker law”
In another North Carolina case last year, TikTok star Brenay Kennard was accused of having an affair with her manager, Tim Montague.
The jury decided that she should pay $1.75 million last year.
Robonetta Jones, who was the attorney for the scorned wife Akira Montague, said her client “has received justice from losing her husband and the father of her children.”
“Charge the husband,” one commented online, while another said, “How is that possible when he is to blame as well?”
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