This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1926. 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.

Contamination at this shipyard — petroleum, PCBs, metals, and solvent residues — traces to industrial operations that began six decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The successive operators who ran shipbuilding and servicing activities from 1926 onward were insured under exactly the type of CGL policies that remain enforceable for long-tail environmental claims. With cleanup still ongoing — capping maintenance, groundwater monitoring, periodic reviews — the historical carriers who covered those pre-1986 operations may be obligated both to reimburse past remediation costs and to fund the continuing controls.

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.