Wife sues companies after N. Stonington man’s death

A Connecticut man’s estate and widow are suing a wide variety of defendants, accusing them of contributing to his death from an aggressive cancer.

The defendants, 10 in all, include BASF Corp., Union Carbide and MetLife insurance, but include several smaller companies, including corporations in the United Kingdom and India.

Phyllis Serra is suing on behalf of herself and the estate of her late husband, Richard Serra, of North Stonington, in Superior Court in Bridgeport. He died of by asbestos-related mesothelioma.

According to the complaint, Richard Serra, 75, was exposed to asbestos, a known carcinogen, while performing home renovations and repair work in the 1970s and ’80s and as a regional planner during those decades.

According to his obituary, Serra served in the U.S. Air Force from 1964 to 1968, including one year in Vietnam. The couple have two children and a granddaughter. He retired from Southeastern CT Council of Governments in 2018, it says.

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, when asbestos is disturbed, for example, when the wall of an old house is taken down, tiny fibers are released into the air.

When breathed in, the fibers, which are “too small to see,” can cause “asbestosis, pleural disease, lung cancer, and mesothelioma. Some of these diseases can be serious or even fatal,” according to the agency’s website.

According to the lawsuit, Richard Serra, allegedly “was exposed to and did inhale and/or ingest asbestos dust, fibers, and particles … from the asbestos products which were contracted for, mined, milled, processed, manufactured, designed, tested, assembled, fashioned, fabricated, packaged, supplied, distributed, delivered, marketed and/or sold by the defendants.”

This caused Serra to contract asbestos-related disease, according to the lawsuit claims, which “caused the plaintiff to suffer great pain, suffering, mental anxiety, distress of mind, humiliation, emotional trauma, mental anguish and death.”

The suit continues, “As a result thereof, the plaintiff’s life span was shortened and the plaintiff’s capacity to carry on life’s activities was impaired along with the plaintiff’s capacity to enjoy life and family, to engage in any gainful employment, and to participate in civic affairs.”

The complaint alleges that the defendants possessed medical and scientific data from as far back as 1929 that “clearly indicated that asbestos and asbestos-containing products were hazardous to the health and safety of the plaintiff and other human beings.”

Since the 1930s, the companies had numerous workers’ compensation claims filed against them by former asbestos workers, the suit states.

The complaint alleges the defendants broke Connecticut’s product liability laws in several ways: strict liability, negligence, failure to warn and breach of warranty. The suit also accuses the defendants of recklessness.

Phyllis Serra also alleges in the lawsuit that she has suffered a loss of consortium.

A spokesman for MetLife, formally known as Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., declined comment. The other defendants did not respond to a request for comment.

A document filed in the case in October by the lawyer for Union Carbide said the defendant is without sufficient knowledge or information “upon which to form a belief as to the truth” of a number of the claims in the suit.

However, it also says, “Any asbestos containing products supplied by Defendant were encapsulated, non-friable and contained only chrysotile asbestos, which does not cause asbestos related diseases at low doses. Any alleged exposure of Plaintiff to an asbestos-containing product supplied by Defendant was not of the type and/ or was insufficient to be a proximate cause to Plaintiff’s alleged asbestos disease, if any.” It also denies it is “liable, negligent or in breach of warranty.”

The lawyer for BASF also filed a motion in which it denies claims made in the lawsuit.