[FoxBidness] A federal appeals court on Wednesday heard arguments over whether car insurance should pay out benefits to a woman who caught a sexually transmitted disease from a policyholder in his insured vehicle.
In GEICO General Insurance Co. v. M.O., a Missouri woman, the titular M.O., claims that her partner, Martin Brauner, negligently infected her with human papillomavirus (HPV) after they had sex in his 2014 Hyundai Genesis. She claims Brauner was aware he had HPV but neglected to inform her before they had unprotected sex, resulting in "past and future medical expenses" and "mental and physical pain and suffering," court documents state.
In February 2021, M.O. filed a $1 million claim against Brauner and his insurer, Maryland-based GEICO, claiming she should be compensated for bodily injury under the car's insurance policy. GEICO refused to pay the claim, arguing that the injury did not occur in the "normal" use of the automobile.
"Upon review of the parties’ arguments, the court finds that consensual sexual relations inside a car do not constitute a 'use' of the automobile within the meaning of the subject policy," the judge wrote in his decision.
But M.O. and Brauner appealed to the Eighth Circuit to have the district court's decision reversed. The couple contends that the language of Brauner's insurance policy is so broad as to justify M.O.'s bodily injury claim stemming from her HPV infection and subsequent development of brain cancer. Their brief cites how a Missouri arbitrator awarded M.O. $5.2 million from Brauner after finding him liable for negligence.
"M.O. and Brauner engaged in sexual activity in Brauner's 2014 Hyundai Genesis at least once as of December 2017. M.O. claims that Brauner negligently failed to tell M.O. that Brauner was infected with HPV and failed to use adequate protection to take proper precautions to prevent its transmission to M.O.," the brief states.
"Under the Geico Auto Policy, 'bodily injury means bodily injury to a person, including resulting sickness, disease or death.'"
The couple assert that since Brauner's insurance policy was issued in Kansas, any ambiguity in the policy should be decided in favor of the insureds, according to state law.
"If the Policy is ambiguous, the Kansas law requires it be interpreted in favor of Brauner and coverage," the brief states.
Attorneys for GEICO disagree. "The Auto Policy does not cover liability for injury caused by the transmission of a sexually-transmitted disease merely on the basis that a covered vehicle was used as a shelter for, or as the situs of, sexual activity," GEICO wrote in its brief.
A three-judge panel consisting of U.S. Circuit Judges Steven Colloton, Michael Melloy and Raymond Gruender heard these arguments in court on Wednesday.
The judges questioned M.O.'s attorney, David Mayer, on whether his client's argument would make GEICO responsible for every unwanted pregnancy that might have occurred in an automobile.
"I don't believe that's a cause of action but that's a good question," Mayer responded. He suggested that pregnancies may not be "bodily injuries," but STDs and cancer are.
"This was a bodily injury. This poor lady received cancer and it's terrible. It's a bad situation," Mayer said.
GEICO attorney Douglas Beck told the court the insurance policy should only apply when "using an auto as an auto… for vehicular purposes." He pointed to case law in Kansas that denied people coverage for injuries that were "not identifiable with the normal use of an auto."
But the panel was concerned that the meaning of "normal use of an auto" is ambiguous. "It's foreseeable that people are going to have sex in the car, I mean, that's clearly foreseeable, right?" one of the judges asked.
Beck argued that a covered incident must be related to the "foreseeable and reasonable" use of a car, which is "not the same thing as conceivability." People hypothetically could use a car to have sex, the logic goes, but that does not mean it is an appropriate use of the vehicle that should be covered by insurance.
And by quibbling over the meaning of what is an "appropriate" use of a car, Beck told the judges, "you are turning what is an automobile policy into a general liability policy without restriction."
The arguments concluded with no indication of when the panel may issue a decision.
A GEICO spokesman declined to comment on pending litigation. Attorneys for the defendant/appellants did not respond to requests for comment.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Donald Trump will announce his choice for his running mate next month.
Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary has revealed his pick for Donald Trump's vice president, as suspense builds over who will join him on the 2024 ticket.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, the investor hailed North Dakota governor and former businessman Doug Burgum as a potential buffer to the often unpredictable former president.
'If you're an independent and you're thinking that Trump is too crazy, but then you've got Burgum in the package, then you've got some "Trump insurance". That's the way I think they're going to sell it,' he said.
Burgum, 67, recently emerged as one of a handful of leading contenders for the role as the former president's running mate in the election later this year.
The pick will be announced at the Republican National Convention next month, Trump confirmed this week.
Burgum had a career in technology and consulting before making his successful first bid for governor of his home state in 2016.
In the 1980s he developed a small startup tech company called Great Plains Software, which he later sold to Microsoft in 2001 for over $1 billion.
He has an estimated net worth of at least $100 million, according to Forbes, although he is a relatively unknown figure and largely untested on the national stage. He launched a presidential campaign in 2024 which received little attention.
Burgum may be a 'dark horse' as a pick for Trump's running mate, but he has 'incredible executional skills because he came from business in the state of North Dakota,' said O'Leary.
Last week, Trump narrowed his search for a vice presidential candidate to just seven contenders and begun requesting information from each.
Alongside Burgum, those in the running are Florida's Marco Rubio, Ohio Sen. JD Vance and South Carolina's Tim Scott, according to campaign sources cited by Fox News.
Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, and Trump's 2016 rival-turned cabinet member Ben Carson were also said to be on the list - a set of seven who will vetted after they fill out the forms, two others said.
[Revolver] If you take a step back and look at things from a different angle, everything starts to make a lot more sense. Instead of just seeing Hunter Biden as some perverted crackhead who grew up with a silver crack pipe in his mouth, what if we saw him as something more sophisticated, like a well-groomed CIA asset? This twist adds a whole new layer to the long-standing drama around the Biden crime family.
Mike Benz, the director of the Foundation For Freedom Online, has been all over this idea. He’s been suggesting for a while that Hunter might be more than he appears. Back in September, Mike highlighted growing evidence that suggests Burisma was part of a CIA operation during Biden’s VP days, which focused on controlling Ukraine’s energy sector. He even pointed to an article with photos of Ambassador Yovanovitch meeting Burisma officials after being flagged about their corrupt dealings. That article is below.
Just the News:
Photos deleted from the now-defunct Burisma Holdings website show former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch met with Vadim Pozharskyi—the Burisma official who worked closely with Hunter Biden—at two separate events after she had been told the Ukrainian energy company was considered corrupt by the State Department.
The photos are likely to raise fresh questions about parts of Yovanovitch’s testimony to Congress during former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment. It also raises the question of why the U.S. embassy in Ukraine engaged with company representatives in a public relations campaign with the U.S. government at the same time that internal embassy communications focused on the company’s corruption.
Photos obtained from the now-deleted Burisma website and the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) show that Yovanovitch attended two meetings hosted by the USUBC in Kyiv with Vadim Pozharskyi, the Burisma executive who met with then-Vice President Joe Biden and appears frequently in Hunter Biden’s emails.
The Burisma website also referenced one other meeting, though no photos were provided. Pozharksyi—the corporate secretary who ran the day to day operations with the board of the company—was at the epicenter of Burisma’s public relations campaign to close down investigations into the company by former Ukraine Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin.
Yovanovitch testified at Trump’s first impeachment because she served as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine when Trump made the infamous phone call to the newly inaugurated Ukrainian President, Volodymr Zelensky.
In her October 2019 testimony as part of the first Trump impeachment inquiry, Yovanovitch told congressional investigators that Burisma—and Hunter Biden’s role with the company—was not a focus during her time at the embassy.
Honestly, there’s a whole lot about Hunter Biden that flies under the radar, including his involvement in a business that thrives on a steady flow of illegal immigrants. Could this be why his father threw open the floodgates, sparking a massive invasion at the border? It seems like a rhetorical question in light of everything we know about this criminal family.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Scientists investigating a cancer hotspot in Louisiana have made a key finding that may partially explain the high rates of disease.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University found extremely high levels of a carcinogen in the air across 85 miles along the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, which has been dubbed 'cancer alley.'
Tests carried out last year found residents are breathing in a colorless, flammable gas known as ethylene oxide up to 20 times higher from January 31 through February 26 than what was previously thought - and about 1,000 times more than the safe level.
There are over 200 local fossil fuel factories and chemical plants in cancer alley, where some counties have recorded that toxic air pollution causes 85 cancer cases per year.
#1
Our Current Understanding of Ethylene Oxide (EtO)
Ethylene Oxide (EtO) is a Colorless Gas
Because children’s bodies are growing, they are expected to be more susceptible to the toxic effects caused by EtO. This is because EtO is mutagenic, meaning it can damage DNA. As children grow, they tend to be more susceptible to the harmful effects caused by chemicals, including chemicals that are mutagenic. For anyone, including children, risks would decrease with decreased exposure.
#2
Somewhat related, I thought - Ethylene is widely used in the chemical industry, and its worldwide production (over 150 million tonnes in 2016[8]) exceeds that of any other organic compound.[9][10] Much of this production goes toward creating polythene, which is a widely used plastic containing polymer chains of ethylene units.
Ethylene is also an important natural plant hormone and is used in agriculture to induce ripening of fruits.[11] The hydrate of ethylene is ethanol.
So ethylene hydrate is good for you!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/14/2024 7:32 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Revolver] If you take a step back and look at things from a different angle, everything starts to make a lot more sense. Instead of just seeing Hunter Biden as some perverted crackhead who grew up with a silver crack pipe in his mouth, what if we saw him as something more sophisticated, like a well-groomed CIA asset? This twist adds a whole new layer to the long-standing drama around the Biden crime family.
