A Napa County jury Tuesday morning rejected a San Ramon woman’s claim she contracted herpes from a 2005 facial she received at the Villagio Inn & Spa in Yountville.

By a count of 10-2, jurors in the civil case took only a few hours to reject Kara Ginney’s testimony that her face was punctured by a contaminated metal instrument a beauty technician used during her treatment.

Ginney charged Villagio was negligent and the treatment gave her what is known as the herpes simplex one virus, which can cause cold sores and skin lesions. The beauty technician involved in the case, Leda Tar, did not remember giving Ginney her facial on Sept. 10, 2005. On that day, Ginney and a few friends went to the Villagio as part of Ginney’s 40th birthday celebration.

“The jury’s verdict in favor of Villagio Inn & Spa affirms our position that Ms. Ginney did not contract this virus as alleged,” Villagio officials said in a statement. “In more than eight years of operating, we have performed thousands of esthetics skin care services and have never received a complaint of this nature. The esthetician who performed Ms. Ginney’s treatment has an exemplary record of professional service and has herself performed close to 4,000 facial treatments in our employ.”

Ginney’s San Francisco-based lawyer, Steven Taxman, said he was surprised by the verdict.

“My client told the truth,” he said. “My client got up to the witness stand and told the truth about what happened to her on the morning that she received the facial at the Villagio. For some reason the jury didn’t find her convincing and we don’t know why. We have to confer with my client and confer with my office to find out what to do next.”

Ginney’s lawyers used medical witnesses during the two-week trial in an effort to persuade jurors she could have only contracted the disease from the Villagio. The defense produced medical witnesses of their own to cast doubt on the veracity of her claim, showing at least half of the population has the HSV-1 virus, which typically produces a cold sore.

Villagio lawyer Stephen O’Neill told the jury Monday Ginney’s doctors all relied on Ginney’s honesty when they came to conclusions about what happened to her.

“They relied on her testimony to build this house of cards, once that testimony is shown to be unreliable that whole house comes down,” he said, repeatedly calling Ginney’s testimony a “fabrication.”

Taxman asked jurors to award her more than $628,000 in compensation to pay for medical expenses and changes in her lifestyle due to the disease. He called the defense’s claims untrue.

“She’s lying so she can get money?” Taxman told the jury Monday. “That doesn’t make sense. ... Ladies and gentlemen, my client is not a liar, my client is not fabricating this case, she’s told you the truth.”

In the end, only two jurors sided with Ginney. Because it was a civil case, only nine of the 12 jurors needed to agree to come to a verdict. In criminal matters, all jurors must agree.