Central Wisconsin runs on paper and the river. The Wisconsin River corridor is lined with mills and power plants — the Weyerhaeuser and Domtar works at Rothschild, the Consolidated Papers mills at Wisconsin Rapids, and the paper industry at Marshfield and Brokaw. Papermaking and coal-fired power of this kind reportedly relied on asbestos-containing insulation and materials for decades.
Wisconsin allows three years from a mesothelioma or asbestos-cancer diagnosis to file a personal-injury claim (Wis. Stat. § 893.54), with the clock starting when the disease is discovered or reasonably should have been. A wrongful-death claim runs three years from the date of death, which can open a new filing window. Cases are filed in the county Circuit Court of proper venue; Wisconsin has no statewide asbestos MDL, and Milwaukee County has historically carried the state’s largest asbestos docket.