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 Toppenish property was originally constructed and operated as a sugar beet processing plant by U & I Sugar until 1979, then acquired in 1986 by Pacific AquaTech for planned tire recycling via pyrolysis. Cleanup activities beginning in April 1996 included the excavation and removal of two underground storage tanks and PCB-contaminated soil, disposal of 589 cubic yards of asbestos, removal of three aboveground storage tanks totaling 18,000 gallons and three tower vessels totaling 36,000 gallons, and the removal of numerous drums and pails of petroleum products and chemicals, along with approximately 150,000 tires. Groundwater wells were tested and ongoing monitoring with contingent future remediation was incorporated into the cleanup plan. The site has since 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 contamination at this property — PCBs, asbestos, and petroleum products — is directly traceable to decades of heavy industrial operations that ran through 1979 and into the 1980s, well within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. The presence of underground and aboveground storage tanks, PCB-bearing soil, and asbestos implicates equipment and practices from those pre-1986 operational years. The remediation scope documented at this site — UST and PCB soil excavation, large-scale asbestos disposal, multiple tank removals, and long-term groundwater monitoring — represents cleanup expenditures that historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the U & I Sugar or early Pacific AquaTech operational periods may be obligated to recover.
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.
