Need a Personal Injury Lawyer?

Search Our Site

All Legal Articles

Browse our gallery of legal topics >>

Read Related Legal Articles

Can I Sue Someone for Giving me Genital Herpes?



The Centers for Disease Control and Infection show that there are 19.7 million new sexual transmitted infections every year in the United States. Therefore, prevention of a sexual transmitted disease very important in today’s society. A person finding out that they have an STD can have devastating consequences their mental and physical health. There are so many types of sexual transmitted disease such HIV/AIDS, genital herpes, hepatitis, Human Papillomavirus and Syphilis with many incurable or can have lasting effects on immune health, liver and your bodied in general. It is imperative to know your status and protect yourself before you knowing or recklessly inflict someone with a disease that might be incurable.

Can I Sue Someone for Giving me Genital Herpes?

The prevalence of STDs has left persons seeking relief from the law to punish all individual who are reckless, negligent or who knowing transmit a disease to another person. The claim will be brought under the law of tort whereby a person recklessly or intentionally causes injury. The transmission of the disease is a legitimate basis to initiate a lawsuit because it demands compensation from the person responsible. There have been numerous claims involving the transmission of genital herpes where the injured party has been successful in the claim. In 2011 there was an award of $900,000 after a woman transmitted the disease from a person she met on the eHarmony online dating website. However, the nature of the disease may make it extremely hard to prove that the particular person in question is responsible for you the disease as a person can suffer from symptoms long after the actual transmission. The success of the case is also dependent on the state as a state can be conservative in nature thus it would be difficult to compensation.

Can I Sue a boyfriend for giving me Herpes

Generally, most STDs are transmitted between partners as result suing a boyfriend or girlfriend is possible under the law. Before a person initates a lawsuit they should be sure that their boyfriend in question is responsible for the transmission of the disease because he can sue for defamation of character. If the person is sued the law looks at the intent of the boyfriend in the determination of whether damages should be awarded to you. The person must show that their boyfriend was negligent or intentionally infected you them with the disease. In California the law states that it is the duty of a person to know their status as such someone who knew or should have known that he was infected must warn and protect their partner. There has been a string of cases of persons suing for emotional distress, fraud, intentional infliction and negligence in STD cases. Some famous examples of these cases include Tony Bennett being sued for $90 million, Robin Williams and Micheal Vick.

Can you sue someone for knowingly giving you Herpes?

Where a person knowing transmit a STD, a person can sue them because they were intentionally malicious. In Oregon a 49 year woman sued her boyfriend who told her he had herpes after they had unprotected sex. Cases like these shows that the person was malicious since he intentionally withheld the information.

Can I sue for a STD?

A person can sue for an STD because a person has a duty to take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure a person. Therefore, a person with an STD has a duty to protect all persons who are directly affected by his/her disease. If a person does not know he/she has the disease they have a duty to investigate their health and as such he or can still be liable. The accuse person does not need to have actual knowledge as such ignorance is not a defense to escape liability.

In a modern society a person can sue for the transmission of any STD because of the prevalence of the disease and how it adversely affects a person. Whether the accused person had no knowledge or he/she knowingly transmitted the disease he/she is still liable. The compensation for this type of injury is normally considerable as they seek to punish the accused.

Find Top Personal Injury Attorneys and Get a Free Case Review >>