This property has a documented history as a landfill going back to 1946. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property encompasses multiple former disposal sites at McChord Air Force Base, including two historic landfills — LF-01, which received waste from 1946 to the mid-1950s, and LF-02, which operated from the mid-1950s through 1976 — primarily accepting boiler ash and various other waste types. The site also includes an acid dry well used for industrial plating waste disposal and a pesticide dry well where chlordane contamination has been identified. Investigations addressing the historical contamination were conducted through the 1990s and 2000s under the Standard Cleanup program, and 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.
Waste disposal at this property began in 1946 and continued for three decades, placing the entirety of contamination-generating operations well before 1986 — the year occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies ceased reliably covering pollution claims. The documented contamination from landfill operations, industrial plating waste, and chlordane from pesticide disposal represents the kind of long-duration environmental release these historical policies were designed to address. Carriers who issued CGL policies covering operations at this installation during those decades may still bear obligations to recover the investigation and remediation costs incurred to bring the site to closure.
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.