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 fund a cleanup.
The Greenwood Village Mobile Park property in Elma accumulated multiple areas of soil contamination through the property owner's improper disposal practices: burial of hazardous waste, paint and chemical buckets, and other containers, along with ground-level storage of small engines and white goods. Contaminants identified include petroleum products, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and metals. Initial cleanup actions recovered solid waste, a potentially PCB-containing jelly-like material, and addressed a petroleum sheen on-site; a subsequent remediation bid was rejected due to cost, and the property owner has expressed intent to address remaining contamination through the Voluntary Cleanup Program. 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.
Polychlorinated biphenyls were banned in the United States in 1979, and their documented presence at this property as a buried, jelly-like material indicates disposal or handling practices that predate that ban — placing the contamination origin firmly within the pre-1986 window when occurrence-based CGL policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. The mix of petroleum products, PCBs, and metals buried across multiple locations represents exactly the kind of slow, diffuse release those policies were written to address. Investigation costs have already been incurred, a remediation bid has been priced, and the substantial excavation and disposal work that cleanup will require could plausibly be funded by historical carriers whose policies were in force when these materials entered the ground.
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.
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.
