Well this is one way to get back at your ex...
A Missouri woman has been awarded $5.2 million dollars by insurance company Geico after she claimed she contracted an sexually transmitted disease while having sex in her now-ex-boyfriend's car.
Unsurprisingly, Geico plans to appeal the decision in federal court, but for now the woman is multimillionaire because her boyfriend failed to disclose his infection before they rumbled in the backseat.
The saga began in February 2021 when the woman, identified in court papers simply as M.O., announced her intention to sue Geico for damages because her then-boyfriend knowingly transmitted HPV, or human papillomavirus, during their car-based encounter.
HPV is an exceedingly common infection that affects roughly 45% of men. The risks posed to men center mostly on very rare genital cancers.
But for women, the risks are far, far more dire, making them far more susceptible to cervical and other genital cancers that are frequently deadly for women.
But how does that translate to liability on the part of a car insurance company?
Great question, but an arbitrator involved in M.O.'s case decided the company was liable because the couple's sex in the ex-boyfriend's car "directly caused, or directly contributed to cause" M.O.'s HPV infection.
The company asked that the judgment be thrown out, claiming errors made by a lower Circuit Court violated their due process rights, but that request was denied.
Geico then filed an appeal, and Missouri's Court of Appeals moved to uphold the judgment, making M.O. $5.2 million richer--at least for now. Geico's federal court appeal may of course change that.
On Twitter, the case left many people slack-jawed.
And of course, people couldn't help but crack wise about the absurdity of it all, and there was a flood of jokes based on Geico's ubiquitous advertising campaigns.
Geico Gecko, if you're reading this, answer for your crimes!
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