This property has a documented history as a landfill 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 subsurface disposal of hazardous materials here occurred over time through what investigators have characterized as historic landfill operations — precisely the kind of long-running, gradual contamination that occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies issued before 1986 were designed to cover. Those pre-1986 CGL policies contained no effective pollution exclusion and would have been in force during the landfill's active years. The property owner now faces the full cost of a Standard Cleanup investigation and remediation, and the historical carriers who issued CGL coverage during that operational window may be obligated to fund those expenses.

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.