A 45-year-old Englishman has sued the woman he went on a date with for refusing to inform him that she suffered from cold sores and thus knowingly infecting him with the herpes virus when he kissed her.

Martin Ashley Conway, from London, in the UK, claims he was left traumatized by the aftermath of a romantic date he went on last year. After meeting a woman who he knew as Jovanna Lovelace on dating website Meetup.com, Conway claims they went on a romantic date which also included a kiss. Only instead of being a sign of great things to come, the kiss turned out to be the beginning of a nightmare for our protagonist. Days after the couple’s night on the town, Martin started developing flu-like symptoms and mouth ulcers which made eating difficult and painful. After being referred to a hospital, the London-based fitness instructor was diagnosed with “the lifelong virus of herpes simplex virus” and prescribed medication.

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A few days after the initial diagnosis, Conway suffered a panic attack and collapsed in his home after seeing more mouth ulcers developing, despite him taking the prescribed medication. He claims that the condition caused him to fall into a depression which had him endure “a few weeks of not leaving my property except for medical appointments.”

Mr. Conway claims that contacting the herpes simplex virus has been a traumatizing experience in more ways than one. The stigma and pain of having the virus alone have serious psychological implications on a person he says, plus the condition has left him unable to go cycling because he worries that the sweat and stress might cause a flare-up. He even mentioned that the virus left him vulnerable to a “rare but devastating” condition called sporadic encephalitis.

The 45-year-old man eventually decided that the person who he believes gave him this “virus for life” should be held responsible for failing to inform him about being a carrier before kissing him, so he sued her for a whopping £136,328.

“I was upset, angry and very confused. I wanted justice and it was then I decided I wanted to take legal action against the respondent for the illness she brought upon me,” Martin Ashley Conway said. “As a herpetic, the respondent had a moral and ethical and legal duty to warn me of the risks that I would be exposed to, considering the contagious nature of the virus and herpes being a ‘virus for life’. I did not freely enter into the risks relating to the injury or any type of contagion. I was kissed before I was informed of any cold sore.”

“The respondent owed me a duty of care…(and) a harm was reasonably foreseeable,” Conway added. “It is fair, just and reasonable for the court to impose a duty of care upon the respondent, due to the risk that was negligently being taken with my health, which was reasonably foreseeable which led to three weeks of severe acute symptoms, leading to emotional, physical and financial distress.”

The over £130,000 he is asking as compensation includes over £100,000 for fortnightly therapy sessions until the age of 79, as well as lost earnings while he was ill and income protection insurance in case of future herpes flare-ups.

 

For her part, Conway’s date denies any liability, calling the lawsuit “frivolous and vexatious”, denies his version of events and the accuracy of much of his account of their relationship. The curious case originally reached court in February, but is expected to be back for further hearing later this year.