asbestos

A Wisconsin appeals court reinstated portions of a woman’s lawsuit in December 2015 that alleges asbestos exposure at two of Milwaukee’s signature brewing companies played a role in her steamfitter husband’s death.

In the lawsuit, handled by a mesothelioma law firm, Sandra Brezonick alleges her husband, John Brezonick, contracted mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos at a number of Milwaukee-area industrial sites between 1996 and 2000.

The lawsuit includes nearly a dozen defendants, including Pabst Brewing Company and Miller Brewing Company and WEPCO as owners and operators of sites where asbestos existed. Sprinkmann was named as an installer and supplier of asbestos products used at sites where John Brezonick worked.

A judge last year dismissed her claims against Pabst, Miller, Sprinkmann Sons Corporation and Wisconsin Electric Power Company. She said a state law that prohibits lawsuits over injuries resulting from work to improve property shields them because John Brezonick’s work amounted to such improvements.

The 1st District Court of Appeals reversed that decision, finding that the companies failed to prove his work amounted to improvements rather than repairs.

The court also said that Sprinkmann’s work replacing large portions of existing pipes could be construed as necessary maintenance.