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.

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 heavy-metal contamination at this site — arsenic, copper, lead, and zinc — is the product of smelting operations that ceased well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. The scale of remediation already undertaken and still planned — offshore sediment capping, dredging, long-term monitoring, and waste management — represents substantial cleanup expenditures tied directly to those historical operations. CGL carriers on the risk during the decades of active smelting may still be obligated to fund both past and future remediation costs.

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.