A Missouri woman has been awarded $5.2 million in a settlement from Geico Insurance Company after she contracted an STD during a sexual encounter in a car that was insured by the company.
According to Fox Business, the anonymous woman was diagnosed with human papillomavirus (HPV) after she had sex with her partner in a car insured by Geico. This week, a court ruled in favor of the woman, bringing the years-long lawsuit process to an end.
She argued that because her partner infected her in his Geico-insured car, the company owed her damages for medical expenses as well as pain and suffering.
NPR reported that the sexual encounter happened in 2017 in her partner's 2014 Hyundai Genesis.
When the woman initially submitted a claim, Geico did not defend the policyholder and denied coverage. Geico said coverage didn't apply because "damages claimed did not arise out of the normal use of the vehicle."
She disagreed and said that her partner's "insurance policy provided coverage for her injuries and losses" because he "contributed to cause to be infected with HPV by not taking proper precautions and neglecting to inform and/or disclose his diagnosis," according to CNN
The claim went to arbitration in February of 2021 where she offered to settle for $1 million. Her claim and proposed settlement was rejected by Geico in April of the same year.
In May of 2021, an arbitrator with the Jackson County Circuit Court decided in the woman's favor and awarded her $5.2 million, which Geico immediately appealed.
This week the Missouri Court of Appeals upheld her $5.2 million in damages and said Geico's initial mistake was not to defend their policyholder, the car's owner, but instead totally denied coverage at the onset.
The court wrote that if the company had decided to defend the policyholder, they may have avoided the payout.
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