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 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.

The arsenic and lead contamination at this property originated entirely from Asarco's Tacoma copper smelter — an industrial operation that ran for nearly one hundred years and deposited pollutants here decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. Carriers who issued CGL coverage to Asarco and its predecessors during those pre-1986 operating years wrote policies under which ongoing contamination of third-party properties was a covered occurrence. The cleanup obligations now being addressed at Cushman Pointe under the Standard Cleanup program may represent costs recoverable from those historical insurers.

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.