The Government Employees Insurance Company (Geico) has been ordered to pay $5.2 million to a woman who claims she caught an STD during unprotected sex in the backseat of her boyfriend’s car.
In February 2021, the woman informed Geico that she contracted HPV, the human papillomavirus, in her then-boyfriend’s car and she intended to sue for damages.
A judge ordered the woman and Geico to settle the lawsuit in arbitration. An arbitrator later found that the couple’s sex in the backseat of the car “directly caused, or directly contributed to cause” the HPV infection.
The woman was awarded $5.2 million after Geico was found liable because the man did not inform her that he was infected with the HPV virus.
Geico filed a motion asking the judge to throw out the large award, claiming the judgment violated its rights to due process.
However, Geico’s request was denied. Geico then filed an appeal.
On Tuesday, a three-judge appeals panel upheld the lower court’s decision, saying the lower court did not err by denying Geico’s motion, because the company did not have a right to “relitigate this issues.”
One of the judges said the company was offered “no meaningful opportunity to participate” in the lawsuit and existing law “relegat(es) the insurer to the status of a bystander.”
