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.

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.

Lead contamination at the levels documented here — nearly 30,000 mg/kg — is the product of repeated, ongoing handling of lead-acid batteries over many years, not a single spill. That operational timeline strongly implies the facility was active and generating contamination well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were still standard and lacked effective pollution exclusions. The remediation costs this property now faces — drainage infrastructure, continued soil treatment, and eventual full cleanup — represent exactly the type of long-tail environmental liability those historical CGL policies were written to cover, and the carriers who issued them may still be obligated to fund the work ahead.

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.