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Posted Jan 19th, 2012
Can you sue someone that gave you an STD (HSV-2)?



Legal Topic Area: Personal Injury in TX

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that the cost of litigation, and the unlikelihood of recovering from insurance, makes this claim a difficult one for a lawyer to justify prosecuting. If the claim is alleged as an "intentional tort" such as an assault (obtaining consent for sexual contact with a person under false pretenses by failing to disclose this fact is arguably an assault), insurance will not cover it. However, if it is alleged as an act of negligence (which is possible, considering the defendant may not have realized he or she was contagious and may have not been aware it can be spread even when the person is not experiencing an outbreak), there may be insurance coverage.

The only way I would recommend pursuing this claim is if the defendant has sufficient assets to pay damages in the absence of insurance. You should speak with a lawyer about this.

Good luck to you, and I am sorry for your difficulties.


Answered on Feb 4th, 2012 at 5:03pm