A Missouri woman is set to receive a payday in the millions after a three-judge panel ruled that GEICO General Insurance Company owed her after she had contracted a sexually-transmitted disease during a lusty tryst in her ex-partner’s vehicle.
The ruling came Tuesday after a Jackson County Circuit Court arbitration agreement came out in her favor and the insurance company could be required to pay $5.2 million. Geico subsequently appealed the first ruling and has plans to take this latest ruling to federal court.
The woman, identified only as M.O. in court documents, contracted HPV, the human papillomavirus, from an insured Geico member in his car. She alleged he knew he had the virus but had unprotected sex with her in his car anyway. As a result, the woman notified Geico she would be seeking damages from the company in February 2021.
HPV or human papillomavirus can spread through direct sexual contact and cause warts on the genitals and surrounding areas.
An arbitrator found the insured man liable for not disclosing his viral status, and the settlement amount was allotted in the Jackson County Circuit Court. Geico was ordered to pay the damages.
M.O. asked initially asked Geico for $1 million, CBS News said, citing the complaint — and she wrote, “Let me know.”
But then Geico denied the coverage and rejected her claim, the network said. With that, the woman and man entered arbitration, and the arbitrator found the man negligently infected her and awarded damages of $5.2 million to M.O. to be paid by Geico,
More details of this bizarre incident from the USA Today report:
She then filed the motion with the trial court who ruled in her favor and confirmed the judgement of $5.2 million in damages for “past and future medical expenses,” as well as “past and future mental and physical pain and suffering.”
Geico appealed the judgement claiming they were not given “meaningful opportunity to defend its interests,” court documents said.
“But Geico did have the opportunity to participate and defend its interests—including the ability to challenge liability and damages—by entering a defense of Insured,” the appeals court opinion said.
USA TODAY has reached out to the attorneys for both Geico and the woman and did not immediately hear back.
The appeals court also found that Geico did not have the right to “re-litigate” the issues after the award had been affirmed.
In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, Geico said, “The question of whether there is coverage for this matter will be determined” by a federal lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
Sources: USAToday, CBS MoneyWatch
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