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 recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This industrial property — identified in regulatory records as the Olympic View Industrial Park — stored gasoline and diesel in two underground storage tanks. In 1992, both USTs were removed and approximately 400 cubic yards of petroleum-contaminated soil were excavated and landfarmed on-site; confirmation soil and groundwater sampling followed. A No Further Action determination was issued roughly 20 years after those initial cleanup actions, formally closing the site under Washington's standard LUST program. 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 USTs at this property were in service well before 1986, the year occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies began incorporating effective pollution exclusions. Petroleum releases from long-operating underground storage tanks — the contamination type documented here — fall squarely within the coverage territory of those earlier CGL policies. The documented remediation trail at this site, spanning tank removal, soil excavation, on-site landfarming, confirmatory sampling, and two decades of regulatory oversight before final closure, represents the kind of historical liability that pre-1986 carriers may still be obligated to address.
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.
