This property has a documented history as a landfill going back to 1975. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup.
Northwest Hardwoods Woodwaste Landfill has accepted woodwaste — wood chips, sawdust, bark, branches, log ends, and inorganic fill — since 1975, with approximately 13 years of disposal activity documented in a 1988 Remedial Investigation. Woodwaste leachate from those disposal practices has contaminated groundwater at the site. A Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study is underway to characterize the contamination, and remediation alternatives under active consideration include site cover and seal, slope regrading, stormwater diversion, and active groundwater treatment; no active cleanup has yet commenced. 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.
Northwest Hardwoods operated as an active woodwaste disposal facility from 1975 through at least 1988 — the precise window when the gradual leachate releases now driving groundwater contamination were accumulating. Carriers who issued occurrence-based CGL policies to the facility's operators across those 13 years of disposal activity wrote coverage that attached to that slow, ongoing contamination as it occurred. The remediation costs the property now faces — RI/FS completion, potential capping and regrading, stormwater controls, and active groundwater treatment — are the type of prospective cleanup expenditures those historical policies could be called upon 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.
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
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Contact UsThis analysis is preliminary and based on publicly available records. Restorical Research is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
