Genesee County — Flint — was one great GM town: Buick City, AC Spark Plug, Chevrolet, and Fisher Body. The foundries, forges, and assembly lines of these works reportedly ran on asbestos insulation, gaskets, and materials for generations of workers.
Michigan allows three years from a mesothelioma or asbestos-cancer diagnosis — measured from when the disease was or should have been discovered — to file a personal-injury claim (MCL 600.5805). A wrongful-death claim must generally be brought within three years of death (MCL 600.5852), but it cannot revive a claim that had already lapsed during the person’s lifetime, so the timeline is worth confirming early. Cases are filed in the county Circuit Court of proper venue; Michigan has no statewide asbestos MDL, and Wayne County (Detroit) has historically carried the state’s largest asbestos docket.