This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property served as a freight trucking facility operated by Consolidated Freightways, Inc. and its successor Con Way Freight, with operations encompassing vehicle maintenance, warehousing, and fleet fueling supported by underground storage tanks. A release of total petroleum hydrocarbons into the soil was identified, placing the site in the state's Leaking Underground Storage Tank database. An independent remedial action was conducted between October 1996 and October 1997, and the Department of Ecology issued a No Further Action determination upon completion. That history could support an insurance cost recovery claim against carriers who issued insurance policies 40+ years ago.
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 petroleum contamination at this property resulted from underground storage tanks that were installed and operated well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The remediation costs incurred to address the TPH release — investigation, cleanup, and regulatory closure — arose from operations conducted during that pre-1986 policy window. Historical carriers who provided CGL coverage to the facility's operators during those years may still be obligated to reimburse those documented cleanup expenditures.
Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful cost recovery claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage for costs already incurred. Restorical's forensic accounting team works to re-establish and document past cleanup expenditures, ensuring the strongest possible basis for recovery.
Recovering Costs from an Older Cleanup
If this site reached No Further Action years ago, the original cleanup expenditures may be difficult to reconstruct. Restorical's forensic accounting team specializes in re-establishing and documenting past cleanup costs — even decades later — to build the strongest possible basis for an insurance recovery claim.
What We Look For
- Historical insurance policies (pre-1986)
- Policy numbers, carrier names, and coverage periods
- Connection between contamination timing and policy period
- Evidence linking cleanup obligation to insured activity
What We Deliver
- Historical Coverage Chart
- Trigger Analysis & Property/Policy Nexus
- Coverage strategy with recommendations
- Insurance funding for your remediation
- Claims Management & Forensic Accounting
The Restorical Proven Process
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Contact UsThis analysis is preliminary and based on publicly available records. Restorical Research is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
