To all you suave lovers out there with herpes who think you can kiss someone – or do whatever else you like to do — without telling your partner, the California appeals court wants you to think again.

According to a recent ruling, it can cost you millions.

Thomas Redmond, who created the Aussie line of hair-care products before selling it to Procter & Gamble in the late 1990s, has been ordered by the Fourth District Court of Appeals to pay Patricia Behr $4.3 million after giving her herpes and concealing his condition from her.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise is reporting that the appeals court recently decided that Redmond violated his duty to protect Behr, 20 years his junior and with whom he was having a relationship, by not using a condom.

The court also apparently ruled that Redmond was wrong for initially not telling her he had herpes, which he'd known about for more than 20 years, and then later admitting he had herpes but telling her that it was fine to have unprotected sex with him because he was not suffering an outbreak.

In 2009, a jury in Riverside County told Redmond, then-77, that he had to pay Behr nearly $7 million in damages. The appeals court lowered the amount while still upholding the verdict.

According to the appeals court, as reported by Metropolitan News-Enterprise, “Redmond negligently or intentionally misled Behr into believing there was no risk of getting herpes. As such, there is sufficient evidence to support they jury's findings that Redmond was negligent and fraudulently concealed from Behr the risk of contracting the disease.”

A cautionary tale, indeed.

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