This property has a documented history as a landfill going back to 1951. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
This property served as a municipal dump beginning in 1951, when it was deeded to Greenacres Township for that purpose; Spokane County assumed operational responsibility in 1967 following the Township's dissolution, and continued operating the landfill until it was filled to capacity and closed in 1972. Contamination was first detected in 1978 and confirmed in 1980, leading to regulatory investigation from 1983 through 1985 and a multi-year cleanup effort that included providing an alternative water supply, constructing a landfill cover with stormwater and gas control systems, conducting indoor air sampling, and establishing long-term groundwater monitoring. Restrictive covenants limiting groundwater extraction, site access, development, and ground disturbance remain in effect as institutional controls. The site has reached cleanup completion but continues under active operation, maintenance, and monitoring. 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.
The Greenacres Landfill received municipal waste continuously from 1951 through 1972 — more than two decades of disposal activity that predates 1986 by at least fourteen years. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to Greenacres Township and later to Spokane County during those operational years had no effective pollution exclusion, and the slow, diffuse migration of leachate and gas from a closed municipal landfill is precisely the release pattern those policies were written to cover. Every documented remediation expenditure here — alternative water supply, cover construction, gas controls, and ongoing groundwater monitoring — traces to waste deposited during that pre-1986 window, and the carriers who issued policies during the 1951–1972 operational period may remain obligated to fund those costs.
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.