Injury Lawsuits for STD Infection and Disclosure

When it comes to taking legal action against someone else over sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), there are usually two different kinds of civil lawsuits that are possible:

• cases based on one person's passage of an STD to another person, and
• claims involving one person's disclosure that another person has an STD.

This article discusses both of these kinds of lawsuits, and a number of related legal issues.

Liability for Infecting Another Person With an STD

If you've been infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD), you may be able to file a civil lawsuit against the sexual partner who infected you. And in rare cases, even if you weren't actually infected, you still may be able to hold the other person liable for the emotional trauma caused by the threat of exposure.

There are a number of different legal theories that you may be able to rely on in bringing a civil lawsuit for STD infection. The right legal theory will depend on the circumstances of your situation, but two of the most common theories are negligence and civil battery.

Negligence

In a negligence claim, you'll need to prove that the other person knew (or should reasonably have known) that they were infected with an STD, and that by failing to disclose this information, they breached a legal obligation to act with reasonable caution and care. Learn more about proving negligence.

Civil Battery

In a civil battery lawsuit, you're essentially arguing that the defendant’s actions—not in engaging in sexual intercourse, but by knowingly exposing you to an STD— amount to intentional and unconsented-to harmful contact.

The idea is that, although the plaintiff may consent to intercourse, they're not consenting to intercourse accompanied by the known risk of contracting an STD. It's also not usually necessary that the defendant specifically intended to transmit the STD—going forward with intercourse with the knowledge that transmission could occur is typically enough.

Can You Be Liable for Disclosing That Someone Has an STD?

Depending on the circumstances and the law in your state, disclosing to others that someone has an STD can create liability for claims like:

• invasion of privacy, or
• public disclosure of private facts.

An invasion of privacy occurs when the defendant intrudes on the privacy of the plaintiff in a way that is "highly offensive" to the average person, and the intrusion pertains to subject matter that is reasonably considered private.

Liability for public disclosure of private facts occurs when details of the plaintiff’s private life are made public, those details are "highly offensive," and the matter is not of public concern. These two causes of action are very similar, and disclosure of a plaintiff’s STD status might make a defendant liable under either theory.

Disclosing a plaintiff’s HIV status is specifically addressed by statute in most states. In general, disclosure of another’s HIV status is strictly prohibited, with narrow exceptions like medical procedures and court cases. A violation of the statute might provide grounds for a civil lawsuit (i.e. the plaintiff can sue the person who disclosed the plaintiff's HIV status).

Is It a Crime to Infect Someone With an STD?

So, what about criminal laws on the transmission of STDs? The person who infected you may also be subject to prosecution under your state’s criminal laws. But even in states where the knowing transmission of an STD can be deemed a crime, you'll usually need to prove more than that the person had knowledge of their STD-positive status and intended to have sexual intercourse with you.

In most states, you also need to prove that the defendant had the specific intent to infect you. That can be a tough burden to meet, which is why criminal convictions under these kinds of laws are pretty rare.

If a defendant is convicted in a criminal trial, the plaintiff in a civil trial might be able to use the criminal conviction as evidence of the defendant’s liability, but note that a criminal conviction alone will usually not be enough to establish civil liability.

To learn more about the criminal consequences of STD infection, see Criminal Laws & Penalties for Transmitting an STD (On CriminalDefenseLawyer.com).

Civil Damages in STD Infection Cases

In a civil lawsuit for infection with or exposure to an STD, remember that you're asking for monetary compensation for the resulting harm—including the costs of your medical treatment and your emotional distress over the situation. What a civil lawsuit does not do is punish the person who infected you, at least not in terms of criminal sanctions.

The usual types of injury compensation in other personal injury cases are typically available in lawsuits over transmission of an STD. Learn more about "damages" in personal injury cases.

In the case of exposure to an STD without infection, the damages would be based on the fear and extreme anxiety a plaintiff suffers after learning that they might have contracted an STD.

Damages for disclosure of an STD would be largely based on the emotional distress resulting from embarrassment, stigmatization and/or discriminatory treatment that can result from an STD being public knowledge.

Next Steps

If you want to learn more about your legal options for taking action against someone who infected you with an STD, it's probably a good idea to talk to an experienced legal professional. So much depends on the specific circumstances of your situation and the law in your state that a lawyer's expertise is a must in these kinds of cases. You'll get a straight answer about the strength of your potential case, so you can make an informed decision about your best move. Learn more about finding a personal injury lawyer.