This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1906. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
This property was constructed in 1906 as the Seattle Electric Company's Georgetown Steam Plant, providing peak-load electrical power generation capacity until its last use in the winter of 1964. A 1985 site assessment identified contamination including PCBs, lead, and petroleum hydrocarbons, and cleanup activities have included the removal of four underground storage tanks in 1989, excavation of oil-contaminated soils, and recovery of oil from the surface of groundwater. An ongoing restoration project is currently underway at the property. 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.
Contamination at this site — PCBs, lead, diesel, and fuel oil — originated from nearly six decades of industrial power generation operations that began in 1906 and continued through 1964, entirely within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. The documented remediation costs — tank removals, soil excavation, groundwater treatment, and the ongoing restoration project — represent expenditures the historical carriers who insured these operations may be obligated both to recover and to fund going forward.
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.