Asbestos removal worker who lost bout with cancer wins $35 million supreme court suit

The New York Supreme Court has awarded an asbestos-removal worker $35 million dollars. Ivo John Peraica, of Queens, worked for eight years for New York-area contractors removing asbestos insulation from boilers, pumps, and other equipment. He died in December from complications related to mesothelioma, a cancer whose only known cause is exposure to toxic asbestos fibers.

His legal team told the jury that Peraica’s disease was caused by years of inhaling the asbestos dust stirred up each time he stripped asbestos insulation from the equipment at his jobsites – equipment which, according to testimony, was devoid of any warnings about the dangers of asbestos.

The sole defendant at the time of the verdict – industrial products manufacturer Crane Co. – argued that other companies and even Peraica himself were responsible for his exposure to asbestos, but the jury ultimately heaped blame on the Stamford, Conn.-based company, saying it had acted with reckless disregard for consumers’ safety.

Peraica was unable to testify in person, but before he died on December 28, provided four days’ worth of deposition testimony that his lawyers were able to read into evidence.

Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer that attacks the sac that lines the lungs and other internal organs. It is incurable.