BANGOR — An Old Town couple is being sued in Penobscot County Superior Court by a woman who claims that she contracted chickenpox from their child.

In what may be the first case of its kind in Maine, Tammy Young of Milford filed suit against Martin and Betsy Clark, who formerly owned and operated Clark’s Fitness Studio in Old Town.

In the two-page complaint, Young alleges that the Clarks’ 5-month-old child was diagnosed with chickenpox on Nov. 18, 1992. Young regularly used the tanning bed at the fitness studio and had an appointment on Nov. 20.

Young and her husband allege the Clarks’ baby was at the studio with Mrs. Clark on the 20th, but no one informed Young, who had never had chickenpox, that the baby was sick.

In her complaint, Young stated that the Clarks informed Young’s husband of the child’s illness after Young had already gone into the tanning booth.

On Dec. 4, Young was hospitalized with varicella pneumonia, a complication of adult chickenpox, according to court documents.

Young claims that she was hospitalized for 11 days during which she suffered “serious complications, including near loss of life.”

Court documents state that Young “almost died and was intubated.” She had to be artificially paralyzed, was put in a drug-induced coma for four days, placed on a respirator and left permanently scarred by chickenpox and the subsequent medical procedures, the complaint alleges.

Young charges that the Clarks “owed a duty to [her] to provide her a tanning facility free of exposure to contagious disease … and that they breached that duty when they negligently exposed her to their baby’s chickenpox.”

She is claiming “great physical and emotional pain and distress, devastating medical costs, lost wages, loss of enjoyment of life and permanent scarring.”

Young did not specify the amount of damages she was seeking from the Clarks.

There reportedly is very little, if any, established case law anywhere in the nation regarding chickenpox.

Young’s attorney, Peggy Gilbert of Bangor, wrote in her trial brief that it was “a well-established rule of law that anyone who has a contagious or infectious disease take necessary steps to prevent the spread of disease, such as tuberculosis, venereal disease, smallpox and scarlet fever.”

The degree of diligence required to prevent exposing another to a contagious disease or infectious disease depends upon the character of the disease and the danger of communicating it to others.

Martin Clark is a teacher and would have known how contagious the chickenpox disease is, Gilbert wrote.

The Clarks are being represented by Bangor attorney Timothy Woodcock, who chose not to comment on the case. Gilbert could not be reached for comment.

Issues at trial may include the level of proof that Young actually caught the virus from the Clarks’ baby and not from someone else; whether it’s common knowledge that chickenpox can be a serious illness for adults.