This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1969. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This Yakima property has been in industrial use since at least 1969, operating as a machine shop from 1974 to 1984 — performing metal machining, assembly, engineering, and painting of plastic-forming machinery. During that period, oil from milling machines was disposed of in a shallow pit on site. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included excavation and off-site disposal of 10–18 cubic yards of petroleum-contaminated soil between 1995 and 1998; groundwater was determined not to be affected, and Ecology issued a No Further Action determination at project close. The facility has operated primarily as a storage and assembly operation since 1984. 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 traces directly to machine shop operations that ran from 1974 to 1984 — a period during which occurrence-based CGL policies had no effective pollution exclusion. Oil disposal practices from that decade generated the soil contamination later addressed through excavation and off-site disposal. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the machine shop operators during that pre-1986 window may retain obligations tied to those documented remediation costs.
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.
