This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1978. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
This property in Everett has supported industrial operations since at least 1978, when Marvel Industries constructed a commercial building and operated a print shop on the site; Diversified, Inc. subsequently took over the property and continues to operate there today as a recycling processing facility handling household paper, glass, and plastic. Contamination — petroleum hydrocarbons, metals, and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs) — has been attributed to those historical industrial operations and to urban fill materials present across the site, described as typical of urban fill from the early to mid-1900s. Completed and ongoing remediation work includes soil excavation, in-situ cement stabilization, application of Organic Release Compound, and groundwater monitoring. Future plans call for a site-wide soil and gravel cap, institutional controls, and engineered methane management including sub-slab vapor barriers and passive mitigation systems. 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.
Industrial operations at this property began by 1978, placing the contamination-generating period squarely within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The petroleum hydrocarbons, metals, and cPAHs linked to print-shop and recycling operations — along with contamination from pre-existing urban fill — are precisely the kind of slow, ongoing release those policies were written to address. Documented remediation expenditures already include soil excavation, stabilization, and long-term monitoring, with a site-wide cap and methane controls still ahead. Historical carriers whose CGL policies covered operations at this site during the pre-1986 window may bear obligations both to recover costs already incurred and to fund the remediation work yet to come.
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.
