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 — 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.

Pentachlorophenol was the industry-standard wood preservative at facilities like this one for decades before its use was restricted and phased out in the late 1980s, placing the contamination origin firmly in the pre-1986 era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. The slow, subsurface migration of PCP and PCE through soil and into groundwater is precisely the type of gradual release those policies were written to cover, and they remain enforceable today against the operators who held them during the wood-treatment years. With remediation costs already exceeding $500,000 and cleanup still active, historical carriers that issued CGL policies during those operations may bear obligation both to recover past expenditures and to fund the remediation work still ahead.

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.