This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1930. 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.

Industrial operations at this site produced contamination — phenols, hexachlorobenzene, dioxins and furans, metals, and PCBs — that originated decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The operators and facility owners who held CGL policies during the 1930s through the mid-1980s may still bear coverage obligations for the remediation costs now being incurred. With a multi-year investigation and cleanup still in progress, both past expenditures and future remediation costs represent potential recovery targets under those historical policies.

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.