This property has a documented history as a landfill going back to 1961. 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 site traces to landfill operations that began in 1961 and continued for thirty years under a single excavation business — well within the period when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The petroleum and cPAH contamination characteristic of decades of undocumented construction fill represents the type of slow, diffuse, long-running release those pre-1986 policies were written to address. Documented remediation expenditures — the 2001 remedial action on Parcel D, extended groundwater monitoring, and anticipated restrictive covenants — represent costs the historical carriers who insured the excavation business during those decades may be obligated to recover and 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.