Page Updated febrero 2, 2026

While One Defendant Wins Dismissal, Mesothelioma Lawsuit Proceeds Against Others

Página revisada y editada por

Abogado de mesotelioma Paul Danziger

A Delaware federal court has issued mixed rulings in a complex mesothelioma lawsuit filed by former marine engineer Michel Salvemini. The court granted summary judgment to one defendant, while allowing claims against several others to proceed.

Mesothelioma Case Involves Secondary Exposure Death and Occupational Disease Claims

Mr. Salvemini’s mesothelioma lawsuit was filed in 2022. The named defendants are companies whose asbestos-containing products he encountered during his career working on vessels, including the USS Phillips in New Jersey, the Arctic Tokyo oil tanker, and the Good Hope beginning in 1974. It also references occupational exposure he suffered during his 1985-2007 employment at Nuova Mechanica Navale, an Italian marine repair company, where he performed engine room maintenance on various U.S. Navy ships.

Mesothelioma litigation can be extremely complex. Claims generally include multiple defendants accused of exposing a victim to asbestos, and the plaintiffs need to prove their case against each one. Mr. Salvemini’s case is particularly complicated, as it includes both a wrongful death claim for his wife’s mesothelioma death and a personal injury claim for his own asbestos-related lung disease. He alleges that his exposure to asbestos-containing insulation, gaskets, and equipment during this work not only caused his progressive lung disease but also led to his wife’s fatal mesothelioma through fibers transferred on his clothing and personal items—a secondary exposure pattern that’s been recognized in numerous asbestos cases.

Mesothelioma Widower Receives Mixed Results

After three years of the mesothelioma case proceeding through Delaware courts, the U.S. District Court ruled on summary judgment motions filed by three of the defendants. Buffalo Pumps, a manufacturer of pumps installed on ships where Salvemini worked, won a complete dismissal from the mesothelioma lawsuit because the judges ruled that the victim had not met the strict evidentiary burden required to prove he’d been exposed to asbestos by their pumps.

However, the court rulings regarding Mr. Salvemini’s former employers were more favorable for the victim. ConocoPhillips and Hess Corporation, for whom he worked in 1974 and 1975, saw only partial approval of their motions for summary judgment. The court granted their summary motion dismissing Mr. Salvemini’s Jones Act claims but denied their attempt to dismiss the entire case, allowing his other mesothelioma claims to proceed.

Mesothelioma Litigation Remains in U.S. Courts Despite International Complications

The court was also asked to rule on jurisdiction in the mesothelioma case. The original lawsuit was filed under American general maritime law, and though the court determined that those protections did not extend to Mrs. Salvemini for her secondary exposure claims, they did apply to the claims surrounding his illness. Most importantly for the victim, the court denied ConocoPhillips and Hess’s motion to transfer proceedings to Italy, where the Salveminis had lived at the time of their exposure. This means that the mesothelioma litigation can continue to be heard in Delaware courts. The judges also ruled that Mr. Salvemini can pursue punitive damages against ConocoPhillips and Hess—potentially providing compensation beyond economic damages to punish them for particularly egregious conduct.