This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1968. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This Woodinville property operated as the Lennon Crane Company, an industrial facility used for storing, maintaining, and distributing cranes and heavy lifting vehicles. The site included a shop building, a wash rack, an oil/water separator, and underground storage tanks — including a waste oil tank whose leaks contaminated surrounding soils. Cleanup under the Standard Cleanup program included multiple phases of soil excavation, removal of the underground storage tanks and impacted soils, and off-site disposal including export to an asphalt plant. The site has received a No Further Action determination from Ecology. 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 underground storage tanks removed at this site were installed no later than the late 1960s, placing the origin of contamination squarely within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The petroleum and waste-oil releases from those tanks drove every dollar of remediation cost incurred here — excavation, tank removal, soil disposal. Historical carriers who provided CGL coverage to the Lennon Crane Company during those pre-1986 operating years may still be obligated to reimburse those documented cleanup expenditures.
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.
