This property has a documented history as a landfill going back to 1917. 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.

Every contamination-generating event at this property — fifty-seven years of municipal waste disposal, post-closure tire storage, and the 1983 and 1984 tire fires — preceded 1986, the threshold year after which occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies began carrying enforceable pollution exclusions. The municipal operators who ran the landfill from 1917 through its 1974 closure, as well as parties responsible for subsequent tire storage and the resulting fire events, would have held CGL policies with no effective pollution bar under Washington law. The documented remediation costs here — excavation, capping, leachate management, landfill gas systems, and years of ongoing monitoring — represent expenditures that the historical carriers who issued those pre-1986 policies may still be obligated to recover.

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.