For you to file a personal injury lawsuit, you must ensure your claim is backed by exiting laws. These are legal theories that entitle you to compensation by an aggrieved party. In the case of an STD infection, there are three legal theories you can use to make your claim.
Negligence
To use the legal theory of negligence, you must prove that the defendant owed you a duty, failed to meet this duty, and ended up causing you substantial harm. In the context of STD infection, anyone who enters into a sexual relationship with you owes you a duty of disclosing their STD infection status to you. Therefore, if someone is HIV positive and fails to disclose their status to you before sex, then the person is negligent, and you can use the legal theory to hold them liable for your infection.
Fraud
Whereas failure to disclose STD status is enough to trigger negligence claim, you need to prove intentional hiding of the truth to base your claim on fraud. Frau is the intentional misrepresentation of the truth with the intention of some gain. Say you ask your partner if they have a history of STD, but they lie to you that they are healthy, knowing full-well that they tested positive in their latest test. Someone might do this, for example, if they fear rejection upon revealing their infection status. In this case, your partner is fraudulent, and you can hold them liable for your infection.
Intentional Tort
Using the legal theories of fraud and negligence, you can hold someone liable for your STD infection even if you had consented to the sexual act with the person. An intentional tort claim arises if someone engages in unwelcome sexual contact with you, and ends up infecting you with an STD.
You can make an intentional tort claim whether or not the perpetrator's intention was to infect you or not. What matters is that they intended to carry out the act that ended up infecting you, and you did not consent to the act. An example is if someone drugs you during a date and performs a sexual act on you that ends up infecting you.
Hopefully, you won't be dealing with an STD case any time soon. If you are dealing with an STD, however, and you think someone is responsible, then you should consult a lawyer as soon as possible. The lawyer will analyze your case and advise you on the best approach to use to recover your damages.
For more information on personal injury lawyers, contact a local law firm such as Caldwell Kennedy & Porter.
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