Legal News

Ex-wife's HIV suit goes to trial

By Jason Siegel

A woman's lawsuit against her ex-husband that claims he infecting her with HIV will go to trial, a Los Angeles judge ruled yesterday.

Four months after getting married, Bridget B. and John B. were diagnosed as HIV-positive in October 2000. Bridget B. filed suit against her then-husband in April 2002, alleging fraud, negligence, and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

John B. claims that she didn't meet the one-year statute of limitations to file her suit. But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu disagreed, finding that Bridget B. didn't believe her husband was responsible until November 2001.

Bridget B. claims that she originally thought she'd given HIV to her husband, and could only think that she contracted it when she got a cut or was bitten by an insect. After a therapist told her women rarely transmit HIV to men, Bridget B. investigated and found her husband had been sleeping with other people. She concluded that it was her husband who transmitted the virus to her.

Last year, the California Supreme Court ruled that Bridget B. could sue John B. for allegedly infecting her, even if he didn't know he was HIV-positive, and that she was entitled to her husband's sexual history during the six-months before his last negative HIV test.

The trial is set for Oct. 6.

"Suit Approved For Woman Who Alleges Ex-Husband Gave Her AIDS," KNBC
"L.A. woman's suit against husband over HIV infection will go to trial," Los Angeles Times

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on June 10, 2008 (boomark / email).