Brazoria County holds the Freeport chemical complex and the plants of Clute and Lake Jackson — Dow’s sprawling operations among them — where high-heat process systems reportedly relied on asbestos-containing materials.

Every Texas asbestos case follows the same path: it is filed in the county of proper venue, transferred to the statewide Texas Asbestos MDL pretrial court (the 281st District Court in Harris County) for pretrial proceedings, and then remanded to the county for trial. Texas allows two years from a mesothelioma or asbestos-cancer diagnosis to file (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003).