This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1971. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Pace National purchased this property in 1969 and operated a specialty chemical mixing and packaging facility here from 1971 until approximately 1990, storing raw materials in underground storage tanks and drums throughout that period. Cleanup activities under a Consent Decree and the Voluntary Cleanup Program included the excavation and removal of 14 underground storage tanks, removal of over 300 cubic yards of contaminated soil, groundwater treatment, and years of monitoring and sampling through installed wells. An initial LUST investigation as early as 1983 confirmed contamination associated with the facility's operations. The site has reached No Further Action status. 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 petroleum, solvent, and chlorinated hydrocarbon contamination at this property originated from industrial chemical mixing and packaging operations that ran for fifteen years before 1986 — the year occurrence-based CGL policies stopped reliably covering pollution claims. The documented remediation expenditures — removal of fourteen USTs, large-scale soil excavation, groundwater treatment, and prolonged monitoring — were incurred to address releases tied directly to those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued occurrence-based CGL policies to the facility's operators during the 1971–1985 window may still be obligated 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.
