CLEVELAND, Ohio – Despite a grim prognosis for a healthy future, John Panza continues to live an active life, teaching English classes at Cuyahoga Community College, and playing drums in a popular Cleveland rock trio, Blaka Watra.

Last month, Panza’s prospects for financial independence improved considerably after he and his wife won a $27.5 million verdict in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court – the largest award of its kind ever in Ohio.

Panza, 40, of Cleveland Heights, was diagnosed in 2012 with a rare and nearly always fatal form of lung cancer called mesothelioma, which is caused by prolonged exposure to asbestos.

Panza acquired the cancer after years of second-hand exposure to clothing worn by his father, who picked up the asbestos dust at his job at the Eaton Airflex brake company. The asbestos brake pads were manufactured by the former National Friction Products Corp.

Panza’s father, John Sr., 52, died of lung cancer in 1994. He had worked at Airflex for 31 years, and previously served as president of the company's union.

John and Jane Panza sued the Kelsey-Hayes Co., the Michigan-based successor to National Friction Products, and the lone remaining defendant at the time of the verdict, returned Dec. 18.

Visiting Judge Harry Hanna, who presided over the 11-day trial, said the verdict took him completely by surprise.

“I had no clue whatsoever what to expect,” Hanna said Tuesday. “I was thinking ‘Wow!’ when I opened the verdict forms, but then I composed myself and just read the numbers.”

According to the breakdown of the verdict, the jury awarded John Panza $515,000 in economic damages, and $12 million in non-economic damages. The jury awarded his wife, Jane, 37, $15 million for her loss of consortium claim, or the deprivation of the benefits of a family relationship due to her husband’s disease.

The previous largest verdict in a mesothelioma case in Ohio was $6.4 million – and that was reversed on appeal, said John Mismas, one of Panza's lawyers.

The eight-member jury attributed 60 percent of the liability to Kelsey-Hayes, finding that the company’s brake products were defective and primarily responsible for causing Panza’s cancer.

The jury placed 40 percent of the liability on Eaton Airflex, which was immune to the lawsuit under Ohio law. Kelsey-Hayes is liable for the entire damages, and is expected to appeal. A lawyer for Kelsey-Hayes did not return a call seeking comment.

Hanna said the testimony was emotional when the Panzas testified. The couple went to high school together in Parma, and attended college together at John Carroll University, where both obtained Masters degrees, Hanna said. They are the parents of a 6-year-old daughter.

“He was relatively stoic,” Hanna said, “although he was obviously affected.”

Panza underwent four separate surgeries just prior to the start of the trial, and he almost died, said Mismas. Panza’s right lung was removed, and the invasive cancer is almost certain to eventually spread to his left lung, he said.

“He’s going to die,” Mismas said.