Our beverage distributor client was a business founded in the 1930s. They distributed alcohol until the client sold the business in 2010. By then, the beverage distributor land holdings were extensive and included a diversified portfolio of industrial, office and retail properties throughout the western United States. Several of these sites were used to fuel the fleet of vehicles when the company was in operation, and these properties had legacy contamination.
Challenges in Environmental Cleanup
The client was facing a very expensive cleanup on several sites in multiple states. When we met the client, they had not been told about the value of their old insurance policies. Luckily, the client had sold their company through an asset purchase and they still retained the rights to their historical insurance policies. We found the old policies on their behalf and obtained coverage for contaminated sites within the real estate portfolio.
With our help, the client has been able to sell off many of these legacy sites, with no price reduction for addressing the pollution since the historical policies are doing just that.
