Woman wants ex-lover’s auto and home insurance companies to pay for herpes infection

Aaron Crowe

A Wisconsin woman is blaming a lover for giving her genital herpes after a sexual encounter in January 2010 that started in his pickup truck and apparently ended at his house. Now, she’s suing him and his auto and home insurance companies for at least $350,000 in damages.

The 33-year-old woman, who filed the lawsuit in July 2011 without a lawyer, claims the 35-year-old man knew he had the disease and is responsible for personal injury, intentional infection, emotional distress, and assault and battery. For privacy reasons, InsuranceQuotes.com is not naming the people involved.

A Wisconsin woman is seeking at least $350,000 in damages from a lover — as well as his auto and home insurance companies — after she contracted genital herpes.

In the suit, the woman alleges that her now ex-lover “deliberately failed to inform me of his sexually transmitted disease while being aware of the inherent risks involved.” The man refutes her accusation.

The suit was filed in Walworth County Circuit Court in Wisconsin against the man as well as his auto insurance company and home insurance company. The case was first reported by The Janesville Gazette in Janesville, Wis.

Homeowner’s claim debated

Cases such as the herpes suit are rare, although a claim like this might be covered under a homeowner’s policy if the herpes was transmitted accidentally, says Dennis Ducharme, an attorney who chairs the insurance defense group at law firm Wiggin & Nourie in Manchester, N.H. If the herpes was transmitted intentionally, a claim like this wouldn’t be covered, he says.

A herpes claim is “much more likely to be covered under a homeowner’s policy than an auto policy,” Ducharme adds.

Eli Lehrer, who runs an insurance research center at The Heartland Institute, a nonprofit think tank, says he thinks a home insurance policy probably wouldn’t cover any health conditions, including herpes. “It isn’t what homeowner’s insurance is for,” Lehrer says.

Liability coverage included in standard homeowner’s insurance policies protects a policyholder and his or her family against property damage or bodily injury claims that they’re legally responsible for, according to Farmers Insurance. For example, if someone slips and falls on the front step of your home or your dog bites someone in your backyard, your liability coverage kicks in. Legal costs and medical payments are part of this coverage.

“As long as your conduct is truly accidental, the vast majority of homeowner’s policies are going to protect you for the coverage you need,” Ducharme says.

Still, it’s questionable whether the Wisconsin woman would be able to get money under the liability section of the lover’s home insurance policy.

Auto insurance claim unlikely

Meanwhile, Ducharme says, auto insurance covers only those claims that involve using a vehicle for transportation. That would exclude a sexual liaison in a pickup truck.

“Having sex in the back seat is not using the car as an auto,” he says. “You’re sort of in the car as happenstance.”

The background on the encounter

The man and woman in the Wisconsin lawsuit were married to other people during their affair. The man has denied giving her herpes, according to the lawsuit, and told her to check with her other sexual partners. She says her only sexual partners were the man and her husband.

The sexual encounter that led to the woman’s herpes infection began in his pickup truck in Janesville, Wis., the lawsuit alleges. It’s unclear whether the encounter continued at his house, but presumably it did, since his home insurance company is named as a defendant.

In May 2011, the woman and her husband both tested positive for genital herpes, according to the lawsuit. The woman says her symptoms have included muscle aches, fever, fatigue and intense itching. Furthermore, she has suffered panic attacks, insomnia, low self-esteem, depression and suicidal thoughts since the diagnosis, the lawsuit says.

The Wisconsin woman says the lover admitted to her husband during a phone conversation in February 2011 that he didn’t take medication to treat his herpes, the lawsuit says. Prescription drugs could have lowered the risk of herpes transmission, the woman says. According to the suit, the lover got herpes in 1999.