The plaintiff in the Muscatine County, Iowa case said her former boyfriend had assured her he was free of sexually transmitted disease even though he should have had reason to know this wasn’t the case. She was later “diagnosed with both strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), one of which causes genital warts and the other cell abnormalities that can lead to cervical cancer.” [OnPoint News] Marc Randazza at Legal Satyricon says the jury’s $1.5 million award “seems like a fair decision” (Aug. 15). Reader Scott M. isn’t so sure, writing in email, “One has to wonder how the other hundreds of millions of Americans manage to get by without compensation, since according to WebMD ‘HPV virus is common and infects at least 50% of all people who have sex at some time in their lives.’” (more).