This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1900. 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.

The TPH contamination at this property traces directly to underground fuel storage tanks that supplied Bunker 'C' oil to the plant's generators across decades of continuous operation beginning well before 1986. Slow, ongoing petroleum releases from long-running underground storage are precisely the liability category that occurrence-based CGL policies — still the industry standard through the mid-1980s and carrying no effective pollution exclusion — were written to cover. The investigation costs already incurred and the remediation costs ahead for over 1,000 cubic yards of impacted soil and affected groundwater could plausibly be funded by historical carriers whose policies were in force during the plant's twentieth-century operating history.

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.