Milwaukee County is the industrial core — Allis-Chalmers at West Allis, A.O. Smith, Allen-Bradley, the Falk gear works, Harley-Davidson, the Bucyrus works at South Milwaukee, and the Oak Creek power plant on the lakeshore. These were among the most asbestos-intensive worksites in the upper Midwest, and Milwaukee County has long carried Wisconsin’s largest asbestos docket.
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.