Herpes Transmission
A recent CA appellate court upheld a multi-million dollar verdict against a defendant who knew he had genital herpes and failed to tell his partner about his disease. The defendant had sex with his partner on a couple of occasions before telling her he had the herpes virus, which he said was not contagious during its “dormant” phase. They then continued having unprotected sex during his “dormant” phases. She contracted the virus. He claimed that there was no way to tell if she contracted the virus before or after he told her of his condition, and that she consented to the contact shortly after his disclosure. The court rejected his defense, stating there was evidence a jury could have inferred that she contracted the virus before his disclosure. (Behr v. Redmond, March, 2011)