Benedetto Emanuele Caraffa, a shipboard electrician from Italy, worked aboard Carnival Cruise Line ships from 1985 through 2000 and was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2001. During the earlier part of his career with Carnival, the Plaintiff worked aboard 4 steamships which, according to one of Carnival’s former chief engineers, had asbestos all over the engine room and machine spaces – where the Plaintiff worked daily. Shortly before and after the death of the Plaintiff, an occupational physician and a pathologist opined that the Plaintiff’s cancer was related to asbestos exposure which occurred 10 – 15 years earlier. After his death, the crew member’s estate filed a lawsuit against Carnival for pre-death pain and suffering, and loss of earnings and support to his family as a result of his cancer. The case went to trial after 9 years of hard fought discovery and pre-trial motions and culminated in a 9 day trial, following which the jury deliberated for 3.5 hours and awarded the plaintiff $10.3 million dollars and found that he was 65% comparatively negligent for having smoked over 20 years before his death.

Source: http://www.lipcon.com