This property has a documented history as a landfill going back to 1977. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Circle C Corporation operated an approximately 8-acre limited-purpose landfill on this 72.81-acre Clark County property from 1977 to 1990, disposing of wastes in an unlined cell. Following closure, the site entered post-closure monitoring under Washington State's Standard Cleanup program beginning in 1991, with specific monitoring of the underdrain irrigation area commencing in 1993. Remediation infrastructure in place includes leachate collection tanks, landfill gas collection systems, underdrain water collection systems, and a spray irrigation area where collected leachate and underdrain liquids are discharged via infiltration. The site has achieved No Further Action status. 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.
The landfill accepted and disposed of wastes in an unlined cell throughout the 1970s and into the mid-1980s — the precise period when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were the industry standard and contained no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. Leachate migration from an unlined disposal cell is the type of slow, ongoing release that pre-1986 CGL policies were written to address. The documented infrastructure required to manage that release — collection tanks, gas collection systems, underdrain networks, and decades of post-closure monitoring — represents costs that historical carriers who issued CGL policies to Circle C Corporation during its operational years may still be obligated to recover.
Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful cost recovery claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage for costs already incurred. Restorical's forensic accounting team works to re-establish and document past cleanup expenditures, ensuring the strongest possible basis for recovery.
Recovering Costs from an Older Cleanup
If this site reached No Further Action years ago, the original cleanup expenditures may be difficult to reconstruct. Restorical's forensic accounting team specializes in re-establishing and documenting past cleanup costs — even decades later — to build the strongest possible basis for an insurance recovery claim.
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
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Contact UsThis analysis is preliminary and based on publicly available records. Restorical Research is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
