Port Property with Wood Treatment Contamination
Polluters settled with their insurance carriers for insufficient funding and left the Port paying out of pocket for the cleanup.
Problem
The Port’s past tenants specialized in wood treatment. After nearly a century of this work, the Port’s property was heavily polluted with metals and chemicals which threatened the local habitat and impacted the community.
In the 1990s the Port took these tenants to court and as a result the polluters tendered claims to their historical insurance carriers. The end result was that the polluters sold back their insurance policies to their insurers. At the time, the settlement seemed like it would be enough, but it was wholly inadequate to fund the full remediation.
With policy buyouts, the Ports ability to tender claims as additional named insured, was eliminated.
Solution
The Port hired Restorical Research to recreate their own insurance policy history. Restorical spent months investigating insurance coverage for the Port and conducted file reviews at the Port’s office, as well as two different Port law firms. Restorical successfully identified physical policies dating from the early 1970’s to 1987.
Turning to the site history and environmental record, Restorical assembled the necessary documents to develop a comprehensive claims package and coverage strategy.
Working with the Port’s legal counsel, successful claims were made and coverage was obtained for numerous viable insurance carriers.
Impact
The Port’s service professionals, environmental attorney and environmental consultants are being paid by the insurance carrier.
The Port’s site was no longer a concern to the community and they now posses these hidden assets to protect them in the future.
And, best of all, this was done without litigation and without compromising the Port’s coverage.
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