This property has a documented history as a landfill going back to 1980. 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.

Landfill operations at this property began around 1980, placing the site's entire active life squarely within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion. The contamination profile here — vinyl chloride in groundwater, leachate infiltration, continuous gas generation — reflects the slow, diffuse releases that those pre-1986 policies were written to address. The documented remediation costs, including millions of gallons of annual leachate pretreatment and multi-year environmental monitoring, represent expenditures that historical carriers whose policies were in force during the operational years may be obligated both to recover and to fund going forward.

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.