This property has a documented history as a public works and maintenance facility going back to 1965. 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 Port-owned site is consistently attributed to log handling and rafting operations that began in the mid-1960s — more than two decades before 1986 — with no evidence of any single recent release as the cause. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to the Port or its operating companies during that pre-1986 window carried no effective pollution exclusion and may still be enforceable against the historical carriers. The documented remediation expenditures here — habitat mitigation, dredging, waste management, and Ecology-supervised oversight — represent costs traceable directly to those decades of pre-1986 waterfront operations.

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.