This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1970. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This industrial property sits adjacent to the former Hardboard Plant building of Custom Plywood, whose plywood presses discharged heavy oil through a small-diameter pipe to an uncontrolled area outside the building, contaminating the surrounding soil. In 1998, 1,939 tons of petroleum-contaminated soil were excavated and disposed of off-site under the Voluntary Cleanup Program. Remaining contamination is contained by engineered controls — plastic sheeting, asphalt, and gravel surfacing — and the property is subject to a Restrictive Covenant with periodic groundwater monitoring reviews; the site has reached No Further Action status. 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.
The heavy oil contamination here traces directly to Custom Plywood's hardboard manufacturing operations, which began filling the site in the early 1970s — more than a decade before 1986, when occurrence-based CGL policies still lacked effective pollution exclusions. The documented remediation trail — nearly 2,000 tons of excavated soil, engineered surface controls, a recorded Restrictive Covenant, and ongoing monitoring obligations — represents expenditures and continuing liability tied to those pre-1986 industrial discharges. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to Custom Plywood during that operational window may still bear obligations for the costs already incurred and the monitoring that continues today.
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
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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.
