The three-justice panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal found that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gregory Keosian was correct when he found last October that there were no triable issues in Kayla Goldberg’s lawsuit.
Goldberg sued the NBA player, now 30, in August 2012, alleging sexual battery, negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
In his ruling, Keosian said he dismissed the complaint because Goldberg’s attorneys did not show the NBA player was aware he had the sexually transmitted disease.
“There is no dispute that plaintiff has no evidence that (Humphries) knew or should have known that he was infected with the virus at the time of the parties’ sexual contact,” Keosian wrote.
Humphries has denied he ever had herpes. Goldberg’s attorney, Rob Hennig, said previously that the issue could have been resolved if Keosian granted his request to have Humphries tested.
At the time, Keosian said that if he granted the request and Humphries tested positive for herpes, it would not prove he had the disease at the time he was intimate with Goldberg in September 2010.
Justice Norman Epstein, who authored the eight-page appeals court opinion, agreed.
“Even if a blood test established that defendant was infected with HSV 1, plaintiff still failed to present evidence that would support a requisite element of her claims for transmission of a sexually transmitted disease that defendant knew or should have known that he had herpes before having sexual intercourse with her in 2010,” Epstein wrote.
Goldberg said in her deposition that she has become socially isolated since contracting the lifelong disease.
“A dating life is nonexistent,” she said. “I just don’t have much confidence or my confidence has decreased.”
Humphries married Kim Kardashian in August 2011 and they split 72 days later.
— City News Service