This property has a documented history as a landfill going back to 1942. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup.

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.

Municipal solid waste disposal at this site began in 1942 and continued for more than two decades before 1986, the year occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies stopped reliably covering pollution-related claims. Landfill gas migration and leachate generation are precisely the type of slow, continuous releases that pre-1986 CGL carriers wrote policies to address — and for which those policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. The investigation costs, gas extraction infrastructure, long-term monitoring program, and leachate management at Genesee Landfill represent expenditures tied directly to operations conducted during that pre-1986 window, and historical carriers whose policies were in force during the landfill's active decades may be obligated to fund the cleanup costs still ahead.

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.