This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1890. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.

Why Historical Insurance Policies May Be Accessible

Pre-1986 Commercial General Liability (CGL) policies were occurrence-based and did not contain an effective pollution exclusion in Washington. If contamination occurred while those policies were active, those historical insurance carriers may still have a legal obligation to fund the cleanup costs, even if the business closed or the property changed hands.

The discharge window here ran continuously from the late 1800s through 1968 — roughly seven decades during which the Bunker Hill Mining & Metallurgical Complex and its predecessors would have carried occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies each year they operated. Every year of that discharge is a separate potential trigger for a policy issued in that period, and those policies predate the pollution-exclusion language that insurers began inserting after 1986. The shoreline remediation costs incurred since 2006 — excavation, capping, habitat restoration, and ongoing monitoring of the heavy-metal and PCB plume — represent expenditures that historical carriers from that long operational window may be obligated to fund.

Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful coverage claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage. Restorical then manages the claim, including accounting, to ensure the cleanup is funded in a timely manner.