This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1978. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
This property has been in continuous industrial use since at least 1978, with operations encompassing paper-industry activities, waste oil and solvent recovery, drum storage, and oil storage and blending. Chlorinated solvents were released from a former tank farm area, with dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) recovery efforts underway as early as 1987 and a RCRA facility investigation completed in 1991. Subsequent cleanup work included soil excavation in 1997, removal of 60 gallons of solvent and 18,000 gallons of contaminated groundwater, and an enhanced bioremediation pilot using 600 pounds of HRC. The property currently operates as a hazardous waste transfer facility, and the preferred remediation alternative — inhalation pathway interim measures, grouting, surface capping, in-situ chemical oxidation and bioremediation, monitored natural attenuation, and institutional controls — carries an estimated 15-year restoration horizon. 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.
Industrial operations at this site predate 1986 by at least eight years, placing them squarely within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies had no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The chlorinated solvent contamination — including subsurface DNAPL migration — is precisely the type of slow, ongoing release those policies were written to reach. Documented remediation expenditures spanning nearly four decades, from early DNAPL recovery and soil excavation through groundwater extraction and bioremediation, represent costs that historical carriers may be obligated to recover; with a complex, multi-technology cleanup program still projected to run 15 more years, those same carriers may remain on the hook for substantial future expenditures as well.
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
Ready to learn more?
Contact UsThis analysis is preliminary and based on publicly available records. Restorical Research is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
