What This Verdict Means

• A North Carolina jury found former NASCAR driver Jennifer Jo Cobb liable for alienation of affection and criminal conversation over an alleged affair with Tracey Hughes’ husband.
• The jury awarded Hughes $50,000 for alienation of affection and $800,000 for criminal conversation, plus $2 in nominal punitive damages.
• The case highlights an unusual feature of North Carolina law — a spouse can still sue the third party accused of interfering with a marriage or having sex with the spouse.

By Samuel López | USA Herald

Former NASCAR driver Jennifer Jo Cobb has been hit with an $850,002 jury verdict in North Carolina after a woman accused her of having an affair with her husband and helping destroy their 17-year marriage.

But the more interesting story is the law that made the verdict possible.

Tracey Hughes sued Cobb in Davidson County in January 2024, alleging Cobb became involved with her then-husband, longtime NASCAR spotter Clayton Hughes, before the couple separated in January 2021. Cobb denied the allegations.

After a three-day trial, jurors on Sept. 24 found Cobb liable on two claims that have disappeared from the law books in much of America — alienation of affection and criminal conversation.

The jury awarded Hughes $50,000 on the alienation claim and a far larger $800,000 on criminal conversation. Jurors also awarded $1 in punitive damages on each claim, bringing the total verdict to $850,002.

The terminology can be misleading.

“Criminal conversation” sounds like a criminal offense. It is not. In North Carolina, it is a civil tort. A plaintiff generally must prove a valid marriage and sexual intercourse between the defendant and the plaintiff’s spouse while the marriage existed. A 2025 North Carolina Court of Appeals decision reaffirmed those basic elements.

Alienation of affection is broader. The plaintiff must establish that genuine love and affection existed in the marriage, that those affections were alienated or destroyed, and that the defendant’s wrongful and malicious conduct caused that loss.

Think of the distinction this way: criminal conversation focuses primarily on whether adultery occurred. Alienation of affection asks whether the outsider’s conduct actually helped break the marital relationship apart.

North Carolina law also draws an important line at separation. Conduct occurring after spouses physically separate with the intention that the separation be permanent cannot itself create either claim. Lawsuits generally must be filed within three years of the defendant’s last actionable conduct.

That makes timing critical. It is not enough to prove that two people eventually became romantically involved. The actionable conduct must connect back to the period while the marriage remained legally intact under the rules governing these claims.

Cobb previously challenged the lawsuit, including arguing that the North Carolina law supporting the claims was unconstitutional. A Superior Court judge denied her dismissal request in 2024, according to reporting on the case.

The torts themselves have long been controversial. Most states abolished such ‘heart balm’ lawsuits decades ago. A North Carolina appellate judge noted in a 2022 dissent that alienation-of-affection claims survived in only a handful of states and criticized their historical origins and potentially enormous damage awards. North Carolina, however, has continued recognizing the causes of action.

There have even been legislative efforts to abolish them. A North Carolina Senate bill introduced in 2026 proposed eliminating both alienation of affection and criminal conversation, but the currently published statute still contains procedures governing the claims.

For Cobb, the jury verdict may not be the final word. Post-trial proceedings can still affect the judgment, and an appeal remains possible.

What happened in Davidson County is bigger than a NASCAR relationship dispute. It is a modern example of a very old legal idea that North Carolina still permits juries to enforce with very real money.

About the Author

Samuel López is a reporter and news correspondent for USA Herald with more than two decades of experience working in the legal sector. His background includes civil litigation, legal research, complex case analysis and the preparation and review of litigation documents in state and federal matters. López draws on that experience when reporting on lawsuits, jury verdicts and unusual areas of civil liability, separating allegations from proven findings while explaining what court decisions mean beyond the headline.

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