This property has a documented history as a farm and agricultural operation going back to 1978. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Alexander Farms — also formerly operating as Yakima Chief Ranches — is an agricultural property in Benton County where historical use of Dinoseb, a herbicide banned in 1986, contaminated soil and groundwater. Cleanup under a Consent Decree ran from 1998 through 2009, encompassing interim soil excavation, management and disposal of waste soils and pesticides, installation and long-term monitoring of at least 12 groundwater wells, and provision of alternative water sources to address the contamination. Remediation costs incurred by Ecology were assigned to property owner Dan Alexander under the Consent Decree, and the site has since reached No Further Action status. 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 contamination at this property stems from agricultural application of Dinoseb during the years before its 1986 federal ban — precisely the period when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. Dan Alexander has owned the site since 1978, meaning carriers who issued CGL policies during that pre-ban operational window were on risk when the herbicide releases that later drove eleven years of Consent Decree remediation first occurred. The documented cleanup costs — excavation, pesticide waste disposal, installation of twelve groundwater monitoring wells, and alternative water supply — represent expenditures those historical insurers may be obligated to recover.
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.