Lawsuit over asbestos-related illness goes to trial in La Crosse

Is an auto company responsible for asbestos exposure that may have caused the death of a man from Stoddard, Wis.?

Jury members were seated in La Crosse on Tuesday for a civil suit, filed by the estate of Eugene Hohlfeld Sr. The trial before Judge Gloria Doyle could last up to three weeks.

Hohlfeld worked for many years as a truck driver. Doyle told potential jurors that the suit was filed after Hohlfeld died, after becoming ill from mesothelioma, which has been linked to asbestos.

The lawsuit is filed against the Ford Motor Company. Other companies were originally included in the suit but were dismissed.

Hohlfeld died in 2016. The case began a year later in Dane County, but a change of venue to La Crosse County was ordered before the trial took place.