This property has a documented history as a landfill going back to 1960. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup.
The Coski Industrial Dump operated as an unpermitted industrial landfill in Tacoma beginning as early as the 1960s, accepting industrial sludge, demolition debris, automobile parts, and other wastes over roughly two decades. Although reported closed in 1984, the site continued accepting solid wastes until 1988. Cleanup activities to date have included removal of DDT-contaminated materials and 26 truckloads of Poligen sludge, site capping with quarry wastes and clay-gravel slurry, and installation of a drainage system. The site has been under continuous regulatory oversight, inspections, and monitoring from at least 1975 through 2025, and remains in Awaiting Cleanup status under the Standard Cleanup program. 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.
Contamination at this site — PCBs, DDT, industrial sludge, and fuel filter clay — accumulated over decades of unpermitted landfill operations that began more than twenty years before 1986. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to the operators during that pre-1986 window carried no effective pollution exclusion under Washington law and remain enforceable today. With the site still awaiting full cleanup after more than four decades of regulatory involvement, the remediation costs ahead — investigation, design, and long-term remediation — could plausibly be funded by historical carriers whose policies were in force when the contamination was deposited.
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.
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.
