This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1927. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Pulp and paper operations at the Tacoma Kraft Mill began in 1927, with St. Regis Paper Company operating the mill from 1930 until 1985, when Simpson acquired it in August of that year. The St. Paul Waterway Problem Area — a contaminated-sediment zone adjacent to the mill — was listed as part of the Commencement Bay Nearshore/Tideflats Superfund Site on the National Priorities List in 1983. Remediation under a Consent Decree included sediment remediation, source control, sediment capping, and long-term monitoring, with provisions for cost reimbursement and recovery. The site has since reached No Further Action status. 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.
Hazardous-substance contamination in the St. Paul Waterway accumulated over more than five decades of pulp and paper operations beginning in 1927 — the entirety of which predates the 1986 threshold at which occurrence-based CGL policies began incorporating effective pollution exclusions. St. Regis Paper Company alone operated the mill for over fifty years under those pre-1986 policy conditions, generating multiple consecutive policy periods with no reliable pollution carve-out. The Superfund designation, Consent Decree obligations, sediment capping program, and long-term monitoring costs all represent cleanup expenditures that historical carriers from those pre-1986 operational decades may be obligated to recover.
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
Ready to learn more?
Contact UsThis analysis is preliminary and based on publicly available records. Restorical Research is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
