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 fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
This property operated as a Univar USA Inc. chemical distribution facility in Kent, Washington, with operations encompassing chemical storage, handling, and distribution — including a barrel wash sump. A remedial investigation completed in 2005 documented widespread contamination in both soil and groundwater, including chlorinated solvents such as tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, and 1,1,1-trichloroethane, petroleum hydrocarbons including benzene, toluene, and xylenes, and ketones such as acetone and methyl ethyl ketone. Groundwater monitoring and treatment through injection wells ran from 1995 to 2004, and cleanup work remains ongoing under the 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 broad spectrum of industrial solvents and petroleum constituents found at this site — chlorinated degreasers, aromatic hydrocarbons, ketones — is characteristic of chemical handling operations that were well established before 1986, when occurrence-based CGL policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. Nine years of groundwater monitoring and injection-well treatment, a formal remedial investigation, and continued cleanup obligations represent substantial documented remediation work tied to releases that originated during that pre-1986 operational window. Historical carriers who wrote CGL coverage during those years of active chemical distribution may still be obligated to fund both past and ongoing cleanup at this site.
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.