This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1902. 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 coal tar, PAHs, and MGP byproducts at this site were deposited during a manufacturing operation that ran from 1902 through the 1930s — releases that occurred decades before commercial liability policies included enforceable pollution exclusions. Carriers who issued coverage to the plant's operators during that multi-decade window wrote occurrence-based policies that attached when those releases happened, not when the contamination was discovered and reported in 2007 and 2008. The documented remediation costs here — UST removals, VCP enrollment, and an ongoing investigation that stalled in 2008 — are tied directly to those early-twentieth-century operations and represent expenditures historical insurers 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.