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.
Pilchuck Contractors, Inc. operated as an industrial contracting company at this Kent property, where underground storage tanks were removed and contamination cleanup was completed in July 1992. The site was subsequently listed in Ecology's Leaking Underground Storage Tank database, and a multi-year groundwater monitoring program ran from at least 1999 through 2004 under the Voluntary Cleanup Program. Ecology issued a no-further-action determination in 2005 and authorized abandonment of the monitoring wells. 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 contamination at this property originated from underground storage tanks that served the contractor's industrial operations well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were the industry standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. More than a decade of documented remediation expenditures — tank removal, contamination cleanup, and years of groundwater monitoring — were incurred to address releases tied to those pre-1986 tank operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the period the tanks were in use 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.
