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 in Seattle was contaminated by a previous tenant who engaged in pressure washing of equipment, discharging oil directly onto the soil surface. Ecology first recorded the contamination in April 1990, with December 1991 reports attributing the release to that prior occupant's ongoing operational practices. Remediation consisted of excavating and removing contaminated soils, followed by capping the affected areas with asphalt, concrete, and the existing office and shop buildings — now covering approximately 90 percent of the site. A No Further Action determination was subsequently issued based on the completed remediation and current site conditions. 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 oil contamination at this property traces to a previous tenant's industrial operations that, based on the timing of discovery and attribution to historical practices, plausibly predated 1986 — when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented remediation here — soil excavation and permanent capping across nearly the entire footprint of the property — represents real expenditures tied directly to those pre-discovery operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to that tenant or to the property owner during the pre-1986 operational window may still bear an obligation to recover those cleanup 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.
