This property has a documented history as a public works and maintenance facility going back to 1970. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
The former Lynnwood High School occupied this property from approximately 1970 until 2011, accumulating contamination from school infrastructure including a leaking elevator hydraulic line, a heating oil underground storage tank, and treated timber pilings. Under the Voluntary Cleanup Program, remediation from 2011 to 2015 involved the excavation and off-site disposal of approximately 6,962 tons of contaminated soil, removal of 106 treated timber pilings and an 8,200-gallon underground storage tank, and the extraction of over 99,000 gallons of affected groundwater via vacuum truck with on-site filtration prior to discharge. The site received a No Further Action letter from Ecology in 2015. 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 — heating oil, hydraulic fluid, and timber-preservative leachate — originated from school infrastructure that was in continuous operation for more than a decade before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were still the norm and carried no effective pollution exclusion. Policies issued to the Edmonds School District or associated contractors during those pre-1986 years remain legally enforceable against historical carriers. The documented remediation costs — nearly 7,000 tons of soil removal, tank and piling extraction, and large-scale groundwater recovery — represent expenditures those historical carriers may be obligated to fund.
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.
