This property has a documented history as a landfill going back to 1913. 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 property traces to industrial and municipal operations — fuel terminals, underground storage, and landfilling — that ran continuously from the early twentieth century through the mid-1980s, well within the window when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies lacked an effective pollution exclusion. The City of Bellingham and successive fuel terminal operators each held their own policy relationships during those decades, and the releases underlying this cleanup were gradual, long-running discharges of exactly the kind those pre-1986 policies were designed to address. Decades of documented remediation expenditures — excavation, containment infrastructure, bioremediation, and ongoing monitoring — represent costs that historical carriers from multiple operators 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.