This property has a documented history as a landfill predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup.

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.

Waste disposal at this landfill continued into 1982, and documents note operations extending back through the early 1970s — placing the contamination source entirely within the era when occurrence-based CGL policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. Leachate from decades of mixed municipal and industrial waste disposal is precisely the slow, diffuse release that pre-1986 carriers assumed liability for when they wrote those policies. With active cleanup still ahead, historical insurers who covered the landfill's operators during its working years may be obligated to fund the investigation and remediation costs now facing this site.

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.