A woman in the United States has been awarded $5.2 million in damages from her husband’s auto insurance company for contracting an sexually transmitted disease in her partner’s car.
The Missouri woman successfully argued that her partner accidentally infected her with human papillomavirus (HPV) and that his insurance company had to pay for her “injuries and damages.”
The woman, known only as M.O. was called, had originally sought $ 9.9 million in damages for “medical expenses” and “past and future mental and physical pain”. A judge at an arbitration tribunal finally estimated the appropriate amount of compensation at $ 5.2 million.
“The insured would have told M.O. He was supposed to disclose his diagnosis before engaging in sexual activity, but he didn’t,” the referee said. Accordingly, the man knew that he had a positive HPV smear test in connection with throat cancer. Nevertheless, at the end of 2017 he had unprotected sex with the victim in his car.
The car insurer Geico had rejected the woman’s first offer of a settlement. The company appealed against the amount of compensation determined by the arbitral tribunal. The appeals court in Missouri declared the sum but now admissible.
The verdict triggered a wave of reactions on the Internet. Tech billionaire Elon Musk sharply criticized: “Crazy claims for damages like this are a big reason why car insurance costs so much,” he wrote on Twitter. “It should be possible to sue law firms that are pursuing crazy claims for damages.”
HPV infections are among the most common sexually transmitted infections in the United States. Certain HPV strains can cause cancer. There is a vaccine against common HPV strains.
