Recently a court ruled that a person’s liability extends into what happens inside their car.

The Missouri Court of Appeals ruled that insurance giant Geico had to pay $5.2 million in damages to a woman after she was infected with Human Papilloma Virus while engaging in intimate activities in someone else’s insured personal vehicle.

The claim was initiated in February of 2021 after the woman learned she had contracted HPV from an infected sexual partner who knew he was infected, but did not disclose his status. Because the incident which infected her and caused injury occurred in the partner’s car, and her partner was clearly liable, she argued she had endured personal injury which was not her fault, and that his liability insurance was therefore responsible for the damages. Geico’s lawyers refused a settlement offer by the plaintiff’s counsel, and the case went to arbitration.

The arbitrator ruled for the woman, finding that the man and woman had sexual intercourse in his vehicle, he knew and failed to disclose his status which made him liable, and that “directly caused, or directly contributed to cause” her HPV infection. The arbitrator awarded the woman $5.2 million in damages to be paid by the insurer. The insurance company appealed the matter up to the Missouri Court of Appeals, and a three judge panel denied the insurer on all points.