This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as the Honeywell Marine Systems Facility, an industrial and manufacturing operation whose releases of hydraulic oil and diesel fuel contaminated soil and groundwater at the Harbour Heights Technical Center. Independent remedial actions under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included multi-year groundwater monitoring and monitoring well sampling conducted from at least 1990 through 2001. Ecology issued a No Further Action determination upon the conclusion of those monitoring activities. 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.
Ecology identified this site as a known or suspected contaminated site in November 1990, with contamination originating from industrial operations that predated 1986 — the period when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were still issued without effective pollution exclusions. The combination of petroleum products, metals, and volatile organic compounds found in soil and groundwater here is characteristic of the releases those pre-1986 policies were written to cover. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to Honeywell Marine Systems during its operational window may still be obligated to recover the remediation costs documented across more than a decade of cleanup activity.
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.
