This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1907. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.

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.

Contamination at this property — PCBs, lead, and petroleum hydrocarbons — traces directly to foundry, manufacturing, and fueling operations that began in 1907 and ran continuously for nearly eight decades before 1986. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to the operators across that span had no effective pollution exclusion under Washington law and remain enforceable today. The scale of documented and projected remediation costs here — soil treatment, sediment removal, groundwater containment and treatment across hundreds of thousands of cubic yards — represents expenditures that historical carriers may be obligated both to reimburse and to fund through the ongoing monitoring phase.

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.