Dane County — Madison — carried the Oscar Mayer meatpacking works, the Gisholt machine-tool plant, the Ray-O-Vac battery works, and the capital and university power operations, where process and utility systems reportedly relied on asbestos-containing insulation and materials.
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.