Product Description

Kohler Company, headquartered in Kohler, Wisconsin, is publicly identified in U.S. asbestos litigation both as a manufacturer of plumbing fixtures, small engines, and standby generator sets, and as a major industrial plant-premises defendant tied to the large Kohler WI manufacturing complex — including its foundry, pottery, engine plant, and generator assembly operations. Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Kohler’s plumbing fixtures were installed in homes, commercial buildings, and institutional plumbing systems using asbestos-bearing gaskets and jointing compounds, and that Kohler-branded small engines and standby generators were assembled with asbestos head and exhaust gaskets and asbestos thermal shielding during the asbestos era.

Product Description — Plumbing, Engines, Generators

Court filings allege the following asbestos pathways associated with Kohler-manufactured product lines:

  • Asbestos gaskets and washers at Kohler faucet, valve, and fixture assemblies, allegedly replaced during plumbing service.
  • Asbestos head, manifold, and exhaust gaskets on Kohler small engines used on generators, pumps, welders, and industrial power units.
  • Asbestos thermal shielding and exhaust wrap on Kohler generator-set exhaust systems.
  • Asbestos-bearing sealing components on standby generator engines, allegedly disturbed during scheduled overhaul.

Premises Description — Kohler WI Plant Complex

Publicly filed complaints alleged that the Kohler manufacturing complex in Kohler, Wisconsin — comprising a large iron foundry, vitreous-china pottery, enamel shop, engine plant, and generator assembly operation — routinely used asbestos-containing refractory materials, foundry mold-face and ladle materials, high-temperature furnace insulation, boiler and process-piping insulation, and asbestos gasketing at plant utility systems from the 1940s into the 1980s.

Workers Exposed

Publicly filed complaints identified the trades most frequently alleged to have encountered asbestos through Kohler products and premises:

  • Plumbers installing and servicing Kohler fixtures with asbestos-bearing gaskets and jointing compounds.
  • Engine mechanics performing overhaul on Kohler small engines and gen-set power units.
  • Generator service technicians replacing exhaust gaskets and thermal shielding on Kohler standby generators.
  • Foundry workers at the Kohler WI plant handling asbestos-containing refractory and mold materials.
  • Industrial maintenance mechanics and insulators working on plant utility piping, boilers, and process equipment at the Kohler complex.

If You Worked At or With Kohler

If you worked at the Kohler WI plant complex or worked with Kohler plumbing fixtures, engines, or generators and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease, document your employment history, jobsites, and product-identification records.

Free, confidential case evaluation: Speak with O’Brien Law Firm — (314) 936-2956