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Page Updated May 13, 2024

New York Judge Denies Asbestos Company’s Attempt to Avoid Lung Cancer Liability

Page Reviewed and Edited by

Mesothelioma Attorney Paul Danziger

When asbestos exposure victims and their families or survivors decide to pursue litigation, their attorneys often warn them that the road will be long and filled with ups, downs, and unexpected twists and turns. But few could anticipate the tortuous path that awaited Susan Carboni, who sued Alfa Romeo USA after her husband Francesco died of asbestos-related lung cancer. Despite the company’s best efforts, Justice Adam Silvera refused to allow them to avoid facing her in court.

Asbestos Lung Cancer Victim’s Widow Pursues Justice

Susan Carboni filed a personal injury lawsuit against multiple companies that she blamed for her husband’s 2019 asbestos-related lung cancer death, including Alfa Romeo USA. Her claim pointed to asbestos exposure suffered during his long career as an auto mechanic.

Though Alfa Romeo USA’s attorney deposed the lung cancer victim’s widow and other witnesses about the case, they failed to respond to the standard New York City Asbestos Litigation interrogatories that the widow’s attorneys sent to them. These interrogatories asked specific questions about the company’s corporate history and the existence of any transitions that might have impacted successor liability.

Company Suddenly Asserts Improper Filing in Lung Cancer Case

Despite the fact of having been involved in litigation with the lung cancer widow for years, in 2023 Alfa Romeo USA suddenly declined to participate any longer and filed a motion asking to be dismissed from the case. They asserted that they were actual FCA US LLC, not the company named in the claim and that there was no company called Alfa Romeo USA, and further argued that their company had not existed at the time that Mr. Carboni had worked on Alfa Romeo vehicles.

This argument came as a surprise to the widow after years of legal correspondence and cooperation and was eventually rejected by Justice Adam Silvera of the Supreme Court of New York County. Relying on publicly available documents provided by the widow’s attorney, the judge wrote that the defendant had properly been on notice of the claim for years and that they had accepted service, appeared, and answered in the past.

Since the company had never provided an indication of any questions about its corporate identity or history, he said that no was not the time. He also pointed out that for a motion for summary judgment to be granted, the company would have needed to prove that it had played no part in his exposure to asbestos, something that it never mentioned in its petition for summary judgment.