Yahoo Autos Court Says Geico Doesn't Have to Pay Woman $5.2 Million for STD Contracted in Car
It looks as if Geico will be off the hook for one of the wildest auto insurance claims the company has probably ever received. Last year, a court ordered Geico to pay $5.2 million to a woman who claimed she got a sexually-transmitted disease during a romantic encounter in a car insured by Geico. Now, CBS News reports that the Missouri Supreme Court has vacated that ruling.
The case was shocking when it hit the news last summer. A woman, whose identity was concealed for obvious reasons, slept with a man in his vehicle in late 2017. In early 2021, she found out she had contracted HPV, a sexually transmissible virus that can cause cervical cancer, from the man. She alleged that man acted negligently by not disclosing his HPV-positive status. In 2022, a court ruled that Geico was responsible to pay damages to the woman, to the tune of $5.2 million.
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An arbitrator ended up ruling in the woman’s favor, finding the man liable but directing Geico to pay the $5.2 million in damages to the woman. Geico fought the case until it ended up in the Missouri Supreme Court.
This week, the Missouri Supreme court’s ruling was unanimous in Geico’s favor. The court says that Geico should get a chance to defend itself over the claims sending the case back down to the lower courts for more deliberation. This may end up being a long fight, but it doesn’t look like the woman will be seeing a penny of that money any time soon.
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