This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1954. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This Tacoma industrial property operated first as the Nulife Fertilizer Facility — handling fertilizer compounds, iron sulfate, potash urea, and minor amounts of pesticides including 2,4-D and Silvex — and later as D & B Trucking, which continues to occupy the site with a maintenance shop and office building. A 1,000-gallon gasoline UST installed in 1954 north of the maintenance shop was identified as the source of soil and groundwater contamination; it was removed in 1992 along with approximately 70 cubic yards of contaminated soil, 850 gallons of contaminated excavation water, and 350 gallons of fuel/water mixture. An additional 26 cubic yards of contaminated soil was excavated in 2018, followed by groundwater monitoring through 2020–2021 and decommissioning of monitoring wells, after which the site achieved No Further Action status under the Voluntary Cleanup Program. 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 gasoline UST at this property was installed in 1954 and is documented to have contained leaded gasoline — placing its decades of active service squarely within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were the industry standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. The remediation record here spans three decades: UST removal and initial soil and groundwater recovery in 1992, a second soil excavation event in 2018, and multi-year groundwater monitoring and well decommissioning extending into 2021. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the property operators — whether under the Nulife Fertilizer Facility or the D & B Trucking tenancy — during the UST's operational life may still be obligated to recover those documented 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
Ready to learn more?
Contact UsThis analysis is preliminary and based on publicly available records. Restorical Research is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
