This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1942. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Building 1007 at Fairchild Air Force Base has served as a fighter jet hangar, with industrial-scale operations involving fuel, oil, and spent solvents historically discharged into an on-site oil-water separator. In 1995, that separator was removed along with approximately 172,000 pounds of petroleum-contaminated soil; investigation-derived wastewater was then treated by an air stripping system over the course of environmental investigations and remedial actions spanning 1995 through 2015. The site has since reached No Further Action status under the Voluntary Cleanup Program, with all required remediation complete. 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 property — petroleum hydrocarbons, spent solvents, and metals — originated from hangar operations at a military installation established in 1942, more than four decades before 1986, when occurrence-based CGL policies lacked effective pollution exclusions. The documented remediation expenditures here — oil-water separator removal, excavation of 172,000 pounds of impacted soil, and years of air-stripping treatment and environmental monitoring — are sunk costs already incurred to address releases tied directly to those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during that operational window may be obligated to reimburse those documented cleanup costs.
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.
