Let’s say you belong to an online dating service, and you meet someone.
You go out for several dates then have unprotected sex. Afterwards you
find out the other person has a sexually transmitted disease, and then
you contract that disease. What do you do? This happened to a middle-aged
Beaverton divorcee in 2010, and she decided to sue for pain and suffering.
A Multnomah County jury sided with her and recently awarded her $900,000.
The woman, whose name is not known, contends that the man knowingly slept
with her and passed along genital herpes. The man, a retired dentist,
did not disclose his illness until immediately after the two slept together.
The woman then cut off ties with him. She claims she asked the man to
wear a condom, and he agreed, but for some reason this did not happen.
The woman suffered a herpes outbreak soon after the incident. She had
to go on medication that had devastating side effects, including significant
hair loss and weight gain. The dentist, who had to testify, claims he
did not think he was contagious at the time of the incident.
For more on this story, see
this article.