Woman can sue ex-husband for HIV fraud

LOS ANGELES, June 10 (UPI) -- A California court has approved for trial a case in which a wife is suing her ex-husband for allegedly giving her HIV after assuring her he was virus free.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled Monday that a 42-year-old woman identified only as Bridget B. could move forward with a suit her ex-husband, John B., for fraud and negligence under state law, continuing a six-year legal battle between the two that at one point was before the state's Supreme Court, the Los Angeles Times reported.

In testimony Monday, Bridget B. tearfully recounted how she had no reason to not believe John B.'s assurances that he wasn't HIV-positive after they were married – he had tested negative for the virus twice, once before their honeymoon and again in 2000 when Bridget discovered she herself was HIV-positive. But later she found he had had sex with at least two men, and John B. ultimately admitted that he also had sex with men before the marriage, the newspaper reported.

Bridget B. filed suit against John B. in 2002. The case went to the Supreme Court in 2006, which decided that someone could be held liable for not informing a new partner of previous risky sexual activity.