Court orders contractors to pay $50K in asbestos case

A circuit court ordered a pair of Oshkosh contractors to pay $50,000 for violating state asbestos-handling laws during renovations in Fond du Lac, according to a news release from the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office.

Circuit Court Judge Richard Nuss ordered the contractors to pay the fines and costs after Rolling Meadows Development LLC and Brian Fuchs, operating as Vanguard Contracting LLC, committed a series of asbestos violations during the renovation of a former residence care building to a hotel and conference center in Fond du Lac.

Rolling Meadows owned the property and hired Fuchs to complete the site renovations. An investigation by the Department of Natural Resources found that between November 2009 and April 2010, Fuchs and his employees demolished interior walls and disturbed asbestos-containing material at the site without wetting it. They also did the demolition without certified asbestos workers, which is required by law.

The DNR did not receive the required notification of asbestos disturbing activity at the site before it took place. The asbestos on site properly was remediated and disposed, according to the release.

— Kirsten Klahn