This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1940. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
Marine Industries NW State has operated as a shipyard and ship maintenance dockyard facility in Tacoma since the 1940s, with historical activities including lumber milling, sandblasting, painting, and equipment storage across the eight-acre waterfront property. Sediment remediation has already involved dredging approximately 109,500 cubic yards and implementing capping and enhanced natural recovery measures. Under the Voluntary Cleanup Program, the next phase calls for excavation and off-site disposal of roughly 2,235 cubic yards of contaminated soil, potential groundwater dewatering and treatment, and long-term institutional controls and monitoring. Cleanup work is ongoing. 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.
Shipyard operations at this Tacoma facility date to the 1940s — more than four decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. Decades of sandblasting, painting, and industrial ship repair generated the soil and sediment contamination now driving a multi-phase remediation effort whose costs include large-scale dredging, soil excavation, groundwater treatment, and long-term monitoring. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the shipyard operators during that pre-1986 window may be obligated both to recover past remediation expenditures and to fund the cleanup 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.
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
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Contact UsThis analysis is preliminary and based on publicly available records. Restorical Research is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.