Herpes Lawsuit Settlements: Verdicts, Damages, and Deadlines

Settlements and verdicts in herpes lawsuits have ranged from five figures to more than $8 million, with most cases resolving confidentially before trial. To recover anything, you generally have to prove the person who infected you knew or should have known they carried the virus, failed to tell you, and that sexual contact with them is what caused your infection. The size of any recovery turns on the strength of that evidence, the conduct involved, and whether the defendant has insurance or assets to pay.

What You Have to Prove

Herpes transmission cases are civil claims brought under tort law. The most common legal theories are negligence, civil battery, fraud or fraudulent concealment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. A plaintiff generally must show the defendant knew or should have known they were infected, failed to warn before sexual contact, and that the plaintiff contracted the virus as a result.

Causation is the hardest element. Herpes can stay dormant for months or years, which makes it difficult to pin infection on a specific person. Plaintiffs typically need a negative test predating the relationship, medical records documenting the timing of diagnosis, and sometimes information from prior partners to rule them out as sources.¹ Expert medical testimony on causation may be required. In June 2025, the Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals reversed a $2.45 million jury verdict against Houston assistant pastor Ralph Douglas West II because the plaintiff had not put on the expert testimony needed to establish that West was the source of her infection.²

The kinds of evidence that carry these cases include text messages, emails, and dating app conversations that show what the defendant knew and when; medical records establishing the plaintiff’s negative baseline and later diagnosis; pharmacy records showing prescriptions for antiviral medication; and statements from prior partners or friends who can speak to the defendant’s awareness of their status.³

What Settlements and Verdicts Have Looked Like

Because most herpes cases settle and most settlements are confidential, there is no clean average. The publicly reported outcomes span a wide range.

At the high end, an Anne Arundel County, Maryland jury awarded $8.5 million in compensatory damages in May 2023 to a woman identified as Jane Doe, finding Annapolis businessman Kim Sharps liable for battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraud over his failure to disclose his genital herpes status. Sharps stated his intent to appeal, and as of May 2025 the case was still active on appeal.⁴⁵

In California, a Riverside County jury awarded Patricia Behr $6.75 million after finding that Thomas Redmond negligently and fraudulently concealed a herpes diagnosis dating back to 1975. The award broke down to roughly $4 million in compensatory damages and $2.75 million in punitive damages. On appeal in March 2011, the Fourth District Court of Appeal cut a $2.5 million future medical expense award to $72,000 as speculative, leaving a final judgment of about $4.3 million with the punitive damages intact.⁶⁷

In June 2012, a Multnomah County, Oregon jury awarded $900,000 to a 49-year-old woman who contracted herpes from a retired dentist she met on eHarmony. He had known of his infection since 1991 and disclosed only after their sexual encounter. The jury assigned her 25 percent of the fault under comparative negligence, reducing the award accordingly.⁸

Other reported outcomes include settlements around $250,000, a $417,000 trial verdict for oral herpes transmission, and a $1.3 million settlement covering medical expenses, emotional distress, and the lifelong impact of the infection. One New York firm reports that in a federal case an initial defense offer of $125,000 grew into a seven-figure settlement during a deposition.⁹¹ When a defendant has no insurance coverage and few assets, settlements are typically calibrated to what the defendant can actually pay, which pushes them into the five- and six-figure range.

Damages You Can Recover

A successful herpes case can produce three categories of damages.

Economic damages cover past and future medical expenses, including antiviral medication, doctor visits, and therapy, along with lost wages. These numbers are often modest, because antiviral treatment is relatively inexpensive. That is why the Behr appellate court reduced a $2.5 million future medical expense award to $72,000 as speculative.¹⁰

Non-economic damages usually make up the bulk of these awards. They compensate for pain and suffering, emotional distress, mental anguish, embarrassment, and the effect on personal relationships and quality of life.

Punitive damages are available where the conduct was intentional or reckless. They are meant to punish and deter. In Behr v. Redmond, the appellate court upheld $2.75 million in punitive damages, noting a ratio of roughly 1.75-to-1 against compensatory damages.⁷

Deadlines to File

Filing windows vary by state and by the legal theory pleaded. Because symptoms can appear well after exposure, many states start the clock from when the plaintiff discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, the infection rather than from the date of sexual contact.

New York: one year for battery, three years for negligence, measured from discovery.³
California: two years from discovery for personal injury claims.¹¹
Maryland: three years from transmission or from discovery, whichever is later.¹²
Illinois: two years from the date the harm is reasonably discovered.¹³

Miss the deadline and the claim is barred, however strong the evidence.

Whether the Defendant’s Insurance Will Pay

The size of any recovery often depends on whether a homeowner’s policy covers the defendant. Courts in California, New York, and Minnesota have held that when the claim sounds in negligence rather than intentional conduct, a homeowner’s policy covering “bodily injury” or “sickness or disease” may obligate the insurer to defend and potentially indemnify.

In one California case, a woman obtained a $298,000 judgment for negligent herpes transmission, and a state appellate court ruled in 1990 that State Farm had a duty to defend under the defendant’s homeowner’s policy because the policyholder said he did not intend to transmit the disease. The California Supreme Court declined review, leaving that ruling in place.¹⁴ In response, insurers began rewriting homeowner’s policies to exclude liability for “voluntary sexual conduct.” Whether coverage exists in any given case now depends on the specific policy language and on whether the claim is pleaded as negligence or as an intentional act such as battery.

Evidence to Preserve Now

Anyone considering a claim should preserve evidence early. That includes every text, email, and dating app conversation with the person who transmitted the infection; comprehensive medical records showing pre-relationship testing and the diagnosis timeline; and any documentation of when sexual contact happened and when symptoms started.³ Messages get deleted, memories fade, and pharmacy and medical records can take time to obtain.

Privacy and Collectability

Two realities shape almost every decision in these cases. The first is privacy. Some courts allow plaintiffs to file under a pseudonym, but a trial puts sensitive medical and personal details into the public record. That pressure is one reason confidential settlements are the norm; defendants have the same incentive.

The second is collectability. A large verdict against a defendant with no insurance and no assets is a piece of paper. Where homeowner’s coverage is unavailable or excluded, settlement values track the defendant’s actual ability to pay rather than the theoretical worth of the claim. Expert medical testimony to establish causation, as the Texas reversal showed, adds cost and complexity as well.²

What About Criminal Charges

Some states criminalize knowingly exposing a partner to herpes. Florida treats it as a first-degree misdemeanor under its sexually transmissible disease statute.¹⁵ Missouri classifies knowing exposure to a serious infectious disease as a Class D felony, rising to Class C if the victim actually contracts it.¹⁶ New York Public Health Law Section 2307 makes it a misdemeanor for someone with an “infectious venereal disease” to have sexual intercourse, and the state health department’s list of covered diseases includes genital herpes simplex.¹⁷

In practice, criminal prosecutions are rare. In the 2012 Oregon eHarmony case, prosecutors declined to charge, concluding they could not meet the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard.⁸ The civil “preponderance of the evidence” standard, meaning more likely than not, is considerably easier to meet, which is why nearly all herpes transmission claims are pursued as civil lawsuits.

1
Law Offices of Jeffrey Lichtman. Suing for Herpes: Case Settles for Seven Figures
2
Justia. Ralph Douglas West II v. D.C.
3
Levine & Blit. How a Herpes Lawyer in New York City Builds Your Case From Day One
4
The Daily Record. Jury Awards $8.5M to Maryland Woman After Contracting Genital Herpes From Ex-Boyfriend
5
The Daily Record. Kim Sharps v. Jane Doe
6
ABC News. California Court Upholds $6.7 Million Award in Herpes Lawsuit
7
Metropolitan News-Enterprise. Behr v. Redmond Appellate Ruling
8
FindLaw. Woman Wins $900K in eHarmony Herpes Lawsuit
9
RJM Law Firm. STD Transmission Verdicts and Settlements
10
Collins Attorneys. Behr v. Redmond Claims for Transmission of Sexually Transmitted Disease
11
Shouse Law Group. Can I Sue Someone for Giving Me Herpes?
12
Avvo. Can I Sue Someone for Giving Me Herpes?
13
Justia. What Are the Civil Liabilities in Illinois
14
Los Angeles Times. Greenstreet v. Eddy Appellate Ruling
15
Florida Legislature. Chapter 384 – Control of Sexually Transmissible Disease Act
16
Missouri Revisor of Statutes. RSMo Section 191.677
17
HIV Law and Policy. HIV Criminalization in the U.S. Sourcebook – New York