Died of asbestos cancer on Navy ships, the Court of Appeal of Florence condemns the Defense

The victim’s orphan received a monthly allowance of 2 thousand euros and 360 thousand euros in arrears

Bonanni (Ona): «It is the first case in which the Ministry denies the right to a minor orphan and which forces them to take legal action for the recognition of their rights»

[23 Aprile 2024]

The Court of Appeal of Florence has condemned the Ministry of Defense, in the trial for the death of Francesco Volterrani from Pisa, who after 32 years of service in the Navy died at the age of 52 due to exposure to asbestos – which caused a tumor that affects the lungs, microcytoma.

After his death, his family, having realized that the tasks to which Francesco had been assigned had caused epidemic phenomena of cancer among other workers, had requested the Navy to recognize the dependence due to service and the status “victim of duty”.

In 2017, Defense asked the Interior Ministry to include the man in the list of casualties of duty. However, Volterrani’s then minor daughter was excluded from recognition; also at first instance the court confirmed the exclusion of the woman, now 38 years old, from the benefits provided for the children of the victims.

Today’s sentence finally does her justice, with the recognition of a monthly lifetime allowance of approximately 2,000 euros per month, with arrears of approximately 360,000 euros.

«It is the first case – explains the lawyer Ezio Bonanni, president of the National Asbestos Observatory, who followed the case – in which the Ministry denies the right to a minor orphan and which forces a person who has already suffered a significant loss to take legal action for the recognition of their rights. Given the alternating rulings of the courts, we have established a specific legal assistance service for orphans of victims of duty.”