This property has a documented history as a public works and maintenance facility going back to 1945. 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 contaminants identified in the lagoon biosolids — heavy metals, dioxins, furans, PCBs, PBDEs, PFAS, and pesticides — are consistent with decades of mixed industrial wastewater processing that began before the end of World War II and continued through the pre-1986 period when occurrence-based CGL policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. Operators of the industrial park during that multi-decade window would have held policies potentially obligated to respond to this type of slow-accumulating hazardous waste. The documented remediation expenditures here — lagoon capping, an institutional environmental covenant, and a multi-year groundwater monitoring program — represent both past costs and continuing obligations that historical carriers may be required 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.