The Wisconsin bank of the Mississippi is a power corridor. Dairyland Power and Alliant’s coal-fired stations line the river — Genoa, the Nelson Dewey plant at Cassville, and the Alma stations — while La Crosse carried the Trane air-conditioning works and the Heileman brewery. Coal-fired generation and heavy manufacturing of this kind reportedly relied on asbestos insulation and materials for decades, and the river’s trades were reportedly exposed for full careers.
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.