This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1905. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property has been in continuous industrial use since at least 1905, when it was occupied by the Magnesium Asbestos Supply Company and Pacific Iron and Steel Works, with a tank farm documented on 1905 Sanborn maps. From 1919 to 1957, a lumberyard operated on the property, introducing pentachlorophenol (PCP) and creosote contamination alongside arsenic, chromium, and petroleum hydrocarbons from fuel oil USTs. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included excavation and off-site disposal of contaminated soil and creosote piles, removal of three underground storage tanks in 2007, dewatering operations beginning in 2000, and installation of a concrete engineered cap subject to annual inspections and five-year reviews. The site has reached No Further Action status, with a contingency plan in place for cap integrity. 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 contamination at this property — PCP, creosote, arsenic, and chromium — originated from industrial operations that commenced more than eight decades before 1986, when occurrence-based CGL policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The lumberyard's wood-treatment chemicals and the earlier industrial and tank-farm operations all fall squarely within the period those policies were designed to cover. Documented remediation expenditures here — soil excavation, UST removal, dewatering, multi-year groundwater monitoring, and a permanent engineered cap — represent a substantial cost trail tied directly to those pre-1986 operations, and the historical carriers who issued policies during that window may remain obligated to fund recovery of those 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.
