Premises Description

Pabst Brewing Company has been named as a premises defendant in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation for alleged asbestos exposure at its historic Milwaukee, Wisconsin brewery and other Pabst breweries including Peoria Heights IL, Newark NJ, Los Angeles CA, San Antonio TX, and Perry GA.

The Pabst Milwaukee brewery — a multi-block industrial complex with a landmark brewhouse, malt house, packaging halls, refrigerated cellars, and central powerhouse — operated for more than a century, spanning the entire asbestos-installation era. Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Pabst premises exposure came from:

  • Asbestos pipe covering on brewhouse steam headers, hot-liquor loops, wort transfer lines, and pasteurizer piping
  • Asbestos block and cork insulation on ammonia refrigeration compressors, chillers, and lager cellars
  • Asbestos gaskets at brew kettle, mash tun, lauter tun, wort chiller, and fermenter flanges
  • Asbestos rope packing on brewery pumps, valves, and agitators
  • Asbestos refractory, boiler insulation, and gaskets at the Pabst powerhouse
  • Asbestos-lined tunnel pasteurizers, bottle warmers, and packaging-line ovens
  • Asbestos sprayed fireproofing on structural steel in later brewhouse and packaging expansions
  • Asbestos arc chutes and panel millboard in brewery switchgear

Pabst’s Milwaukee footprint also placed workers in a dense industrial corridor of foundries, tanneries, and machine shops that supplied brewery equipment — cross-employment with Wisconsin heavy-industry premises is common in the litigation.

Workers Exposed

Plaintiffs allegedly worked at Pabst Milwaukee WI, Peoria Heights IL, Newark NJ, Los Angeles CA, San Antonio TX, and Perry GA breweries in trades including:

  • Insulators (HFIAW) applying and removing asbestos pipe covering, block, and cork on brewhouse and refrigeration piping
  • Pipefitters (UA) breaking asbestos-gasketed flanges on brew kettles and ammonia headers
  • Boilermakers servicing asbestos-refractory-lined Pabst powerhouse boilers
  • Millwrights rebuilding brewery pumps, filters, and centrifuges with asbestos packing
  • Refrigeration mechanics working on ammonia compressors and cork-insulated lager cellars
  • Bottling- and canning-line mechanics on asbestos-lined pasteurizer tunnels
  • Electricians and IBEW workers on fireproofed brewery halls and switchgear
  • Brewery workers dispatched into the brewhouse, cellars, and packaging halls during renovations

If You Worked at Pabst

If you or a family member worked at the Pabst Milwaukee WI brewery or any Pabst national brewery before 1980 and have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, or another asbestos-related disease, you may have a legal claim.

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