Writer Sues Husband for $25M Over Sexually Transmitted Disease

A Manhattan writer says an outbreak of human papillomavirus forced her to cancel a book tour — and she is blaming her husband for infecting her.

In a $25 million lawsuit filed yesterday in state Supreme Court, Stephanie Lerner accuses her estranged husband, Mark, of hiring prostitutes in China and Japan for unprotected sex.

The couple, who married in 1991, co-own an international investment banking firm, Morgen, Evan & Co.

Mr. Lerner, Ms. Lerner says in the lawsuit, was unfaithful during his visits to the firm's Beijing headquarters, and is still conducting an affair with an unnamed woman in New York.

After Ms. Lerner was diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease, trichomonas, in 1996, her husband acknowledged visiting prostitutes but promised her lifetime fidelity from then on, according to the suit.

But in 2005, Ms. Lerner says in the suit, she was diagnosed with HPV and has since had a partial vulvectomy that left her "permanently disfigured"; she says she is continuing a series of treatments and operations.

As Ms. Lerner's health declined from the virus, she says, Mr. Lerner told her, "I wish you would just die already."

Ms. Lerner, author of "Kids Who Think Outside the Box" (Amacom), says she believes her husband knew he was infected; therefore, she claims he owes her damages for his breach of trust to her and for her loss of health and ability to work.

Mr. Lerner said yesterday he was not aware of the lawsuit, and refused to comment on it.