Lexington and the Bluegrass paired manufacturing with the distilleries and the river power plants — the IBM/Lexmark works, the Trane air-conditioning plant, the bourbon distilleries, and the Kentucky Utilities generating stations along the Kentucky River. Manufacturing and power work of this kind reportedly relied on asbestos-containing insulation and materials for decades.
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.