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Originally Posted by Taltarzac725
Not sure what driving a care has to do with other activities in the back seat or wherever. Maybe if they were doing something while driving and crashed the car because of the distraction.
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The issue, still unsettled under Missouri law, seems to be whether automobile insurance covers all injuries which result from the use of that vehicle. There is no controversy that the car was used and during that use HPV was transmitted. Using the broadest interpretation of use, the arbitration officer allowed the plaintiff and defendant to agree that whatever the verdict, Geico would be responsible for coverage. Geico was never given an opportunity to argue that having sex was not a covered use for purposes of the insurance. Does Geico say that it will cover all claims which occur from the legal use of your car? This was a legal use of the car.
The court document online does not cite the exact wording of the insurance contract. My opinion is that this award should not be covered by Geico, and I question why catching HPV which is a known risk of sexual activity is worth 5 million dollars. And even more, what evidence is available to make the finding by a preponderance of proof that the transmission occurred as a result of activities in the car versus elsewhere or with other partners. Although a car does have a transmission, so there it that fact.
Should this claim become allowed, that transmission of disease is an automobile insurable event, we may see a large number of cases where claims are made for catching other illnesses. I wonder if hotels will have to cover STI cases when it seems their beds were the location of the transmission. Looking forward to the added wording in my future car insurance which excludes coverage for such events.