This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1928. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Navy City Metals has operated as a metal and automobile recycling facility at this Bremerton site since 1928, with activities including automobile dismantling and car crushing that released automotive fluids and other hazardous materials into the soil over decades of continuous operation. Cleanup work in the 1990s included excavation of an estimated 1,075 cubic yards of contaminated soil, soil washing and fixation, installation of an upgradient groundwater interceptor drain, and encapsulation of the entire site under asphalt and concrete over controlled density fill. The site has achieved a No Further Action determination but remains subject to a Restrictive Covenant requiring ongoing maintenance of the surface cap and five-year periodic reviews. The property continues to operate as a metal recycling facility. 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 here originated from automobile dismantling and salvage operations that began in 1928 — nearly six decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were still standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. Releases of automotive fluids and associated hazardous materials accumulated over that entire operational span, long before modern environmental regulations required pollution controls. The documented remediation costs — excavation of more than 1,000 cubic yards of impacted soil, soil treatment, a groundwater interceptor drain, full-site encapsulation, and ongoing institutional-control obligations — were incurred to address contamination directly traceable to those pre-1986 operations, and historical carriers who issued CGL policies during that window may remain obligated to recover those 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.
