Geico is being forced to pay $5.2 million to a woman who contracted an STD after having sex in an insured vehicle. The woman, who is publicly going by M.O., claims that she contracted HPV after a sexual encounter in her then partner’s Hyundai Genesis. She is alleging that her former partner knew of his HPV positive diagnosis before the encounter and did not inform her, causing her lasting physical and emotional damage when she herself came down with the virus. Damages her suit claims are covered by the Geico insurance he had on his car.
The lawsuit covers medical and emotional expenses, and hinges on the fact that insurance covers the consequences of any damages caused by the insured’s negligent behavior in the car. Considering he decided to be the worst kind of scum and engage in a sexual encounter while knowingly infected with HPV, it would seem he most definitely did cause damage with his negligent behavior in the car. The courts would seem to agree.
After Geico initially denied M.O.'s insurance claim, which is understandable considering it is definitely not within the scope of what Geico imagined it would be covering, M.O. took her case to an arbitrator, who awarded her the $5.2 million. Geico appealed the judgment in court, claiming they were not given an opportunity to defend their interests, but the appeals court stated that they did have that opportunity, and could have entered in defense of the insured.
Perhaps it’s best that they did not do that, since his actions are pretty indefensible, even though it should be him and not his insurance footing her medical bills. All in all, good on M.O. for reading the fine print and making something out of a bad situation. Let’s just hope he gets some pretty steep premiums to even the playing field a bit. What was probably less than 15 minutes, will definitely cost him more than 15% on his car insurance.
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