A woman has won a £4.1 million insurance payout after claiming to have contracted an STD in the back of a Hyundai car.
It all started in February 2021, when the woman – identified by the initials G.O. – filed a demand letter against GEICO, the insurance company of the man she slept with, who was identified as M.B.
On Tuesday (7 June), the Missouri Court of Appeals upheld a judgment against the man's insurance company, which could see it pay out £4.1 million ($5.2 million).
According to court documents, the letter stated: "Here’s the Petition that will be filed against your insured, [M.B.]. Before doing so, we have been authorized to make one final attempt to resolve [M.O.’s] claims against your insured for the applicable limits of $1m. Let me know."
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The court fillings went on to assert that: "M.O.’s draft state-court Petition for Damages asserted claims against M.B. for negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress."
However, GEICO was said to have investigated the claim and, according to a court filing, the company argued that: "M.B. said that he told M.O. on three different occasions that he had been diagnosed with HPV-positive throat cancer."
But in May 2021, the lower court found that the man knew he was infected when having unprotected sex with the woman, and he was found to have 'directly caused, or directly contributed to cause' of the woman's HPV infection, as reported by the Kansas City Star.
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As a result, he was found liable for damages and his car insurance company was expected to pay out the massive sum.
Following this result, GEICO filed for a new hearing and appealed the decision, with court proceedings detailing that: "GEICO has filed motions to amend and vacate the judgment, which it contends was the result of a collusive and non-adversarial arbitration proceeding."
However, these filings were unsuccessful, which takes us to this week, when the Missouri Court of Appeals upheld the decision.
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The woman hasn't seen a penny of the massive damages payout yet, however, as GEICO is in the process of contesting the claim and is arguing that the case is not covered under its policy.
In court documents, US Magistrate Judge Angel D. Mitchell added: "This case presents novel and potentially important issues about whether an insurance carrier can be held liable under such policies for the consequences of two adults voluntarily having unprotected sex in the insured’s automobile."
UNILAD has approached Hyundai for a comment.
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Shola Lee