Wis. Court Says Survival Claim Can Accrue After Death, Reverses Judgment for Defendants in Benzene Action

SPOKANE, Wis. –– A Wisconsin appellate court has reversed an award of summary judgment for several benzene defendants, ruling that the discovery rule applied to the claims, even in situations where the plaintiffs did not determine the cause of the decedents’ injuries until after their deaths.

While reversing the lower court’s order in the May 9 ruling, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, Div. III, did uphold a second order in which the lower court rejected efforts to strike the answers of two of the defendants.

The lawsuit asserted claims on behalf of Arthur Beaver, Clayton W. Goulet, Ben Otto and …