Jefferson County — Louisville — carried GE’s Appliance Park, the Ford Louisville and Kentucky Truck plants, the Rubbertown chemical corridor (DuPont, Zeon, and more), and the Brown & Williamson tobacco works. These were among the most asbestos-intensive worksites in the state, and Jefferson County has historically carried Kentucky’s largest asbestos docket.
Kentucky gives just one year — among the shortest deadlines in the country — from a mesothelioma or asbestos-cancer diagnosis to file a personal-injury claim (KRS 413.140), with the clock running from diagnosis under the discovery rule. A wrongful-death claim must be brought within one year of death, and the estate’s personal representative has one year from appointment to file. Because Kentucky’s window is so short, an immediate case review matters more here than almost anywhere. Cases are filed in the county Circuit Court of proper venue; Kentucky has no statewide asbestos MDL.