This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1915. 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.

The contamination at this Tacoma dock site traces directly to industrial tar processing and chemical manufacturing operations that concluded in 1922 — more than six decades before the 1986 threshold at which occurrence-based CGL policies began including effective pollution exclusions. Carriers who issued policies to facility operators during or after that operational period face potential obligations under pre-1986 language that carried no such exclusion in Washington. The documented cost trail here — Consent Decree-driven capping, NAPL containment, institutional controls, and years of post-construction performance monitoring — represents a substantial and continuing remediation investment tied directly to that early-twentieth-century industrial activity.

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.