MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments in a multi-million-dollar lawsuit between Pabst Brewing Company and the family of a contractor who died from mesothelioma.
Justices are being asked to decide not only whether Pabst can be held liable for the death of pipefitter Gerald Lorbiecki but also how lower courts should calculate the damages companies must pay in similar cases going forward.
“Remind the public that workers matter, that worker safety matters,” attorney Mark Thomsen, who is representing the Lorbiecki family, urged justices.
Lorbiecki, who was exposed to asbestos while working as an independent contractor at Pabst’s Milwaukee bottling facility in the 1970s, filed the lawsuit in 2017 after being diagnosed with mesothelioma.
He died shortly after suing Pabst, but his family carried on with the case. In 2021, a jury determined that Pabst owed the family more than $20 million.
However, state law limits the amount of damages companies are actually required to pay, and subsequent rulings revised the total damages. The most recent appeals court ruling set total damages upwards of $13 million for Pabst.
Watch: Wisconsin Supreme Court hears mesothelioma lawsuit against Pabst
Attorneys for the brewing company argued that Pabst was not responsible for Lorbiecki’s working conditions, since it had delegated that duty when it hired a construction company to oversee renovations.
“Pabst did not have a duty to Mr. Lorbiecki to provide him safe employment,” Sopen Shah, Pabst’s attorney, argued on Monday. “Pabst did have a duty to provide a safe place to the independent contractor/employer before they came in to do their work.”
That argument drew pushback from liberal justices on the court.
"The record is clear that Pabst absolutely knew of the dangers of asbestos at that point, that there’s OSHA regulations, and that they’re continuing to purchase it," Justice Rebecca Dallet said.
Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s largest business lobbying group, also argued in a separate filing that ruling in favor of the Lorbiecki family could result in “unconstitutionally excessive” penalties for companies in future cases.
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