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 waste-handling operations that produced contamination here were already well-established before 1986, as confirmed by the RCRA Facility Assessment's documentation of long-standing releases and the Ecology oversight-cost payment agreement in place since at least 1998 — which itself represents documented historical remediation expenditures that pre-1986 CGL carriers may be obligated to recover. Equally significant, the active monitoring program still running — quarterly well inspections, semiannual groundwater sampling, and ongoing water treatment — continues to generate costs that those same historical carriers may be required to fund going forward.

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.