This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as Cooper Lumber Co., an industrial lumber facility in Lake Stevens, Snohomish County, with at least one underground storage tank used to fuel the company's own equipment. In 1993, the UST was removed and approximately 900 cubic yards of petroleum-contaminated soil were excavated and treated on-site through aeration and tilling. The cleanup process — from the initial release notification in 1993 through the No Further Action determination in 2012 — was conducted under Ecology's standard cleanup program. 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 gasoline UST at this lumber facility was likely installed around the late 1960s based on its 1993 removal date, placing its entire operational life squarely within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion. Nearly two decades of documented remediation activity — tank removal, large-scale soil excavation, on-site treatment, groundwater sampling, and the regulatory process through final closure — represent costs tied directly to a release from that pre-1986 infrastructure. Historical carriers who covered Cooper Lumber during the tank's operating years may still bear obligation for those cleanup expenditures.
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.