This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility 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.

The heavy metal contamination at this site is a direct product of legacy mining activity that predated 1986 by decades — the kind of slow, cumulative release that occurrence-based CGL policies were written to cover before broad pollution exclusions became standard. None of the contamination here reflects a recent incident; it reflects years of mineral extraction and processing at a property that has since been abandoned. The costs now facing responsible parties — engineered containment, interim actions, and long-term confirmation sampling — represent cleanup expenditures that historical carriers whose policies were in force during those mining operations 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.