This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1946. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This approximately six-acre property has been occupied by Snelson Companies since about 1946, housing industrial activity related to their pipeline supply business — including vehicle and equipment maintenance, painting, and sandblasting. Site investigations discovered two gasoline underground storage tanks, a diesel UST, a heating oil UST, a hydraulic hoist, and a waste oil aboveground storage tank; elevated metals were found in soil where painting and sandblasting occurred. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included multiple phases of soil excavation and UST removals, active groundwater treatment via an air sparging system that operated intermittently for over six years, and long-term groundwater, soil, and indoor air monitoring from 1999 through 2019. The site has received a No Further Action determination. 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.
Industrial operations at this property began in the 1940s — more than four decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The petroleum releases from underground storage tanks installed decades before their discovery, combined with metals contamination from sandblasting and painting operations, generated remediation expenditures spanning soil excavation, tank removals, years of active groundwater sparging, and two decades of environmental monitoring. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to Snelson during that pre-1986 operational window may still be obligated to cover those documented cleanup costs.
Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful cost recovery claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage for costs already incurred. Restorical's forensic accounting team works to re-establish and document past cleanup expenditures, ensuring the strongest possible basis for recovery.
Recovering Costs from an Older Cleanup
If this site reached No Further Action years ago, the original cleanup expenditures may be difficult to reconstruct. Restorical's forensic accounting team specializes in re-establishing and documenting past cleanup costs — even decades later — to build the strongest possible basis for an insurance recovery claim.
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
Ready to learn more?
Contact UsThis analysis is preliminary and based on publicly available records. Restorical Research is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
