This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1916. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
This property has been in continuous industrial use since 1916, when Peter Reilly purchased it and established Republic Creosoting Company, a tar refinery. Creosote manufacturing continued for over 50 years under successive operators — including Reilly Tar and Chemical Corporation — before the site transitioned to crude oil, waste oil, and diesel storage until 1978. Cleanup under a formal Cleanup Action Plan has included excavation of contaminated soil and DNAPL to depths of up to 19 feet, pump-and-treat groundwater recovery through six extraction wells, funnel-and-gate permeable reactive barriers, soil solidification to 20 feet, and impermeable upland caps, with remediation modeling extending over a 100-year horizon. 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.
More than six decades of tar refining and creosote manufacturing at this site — from 1916 through the 1970s — generated the DNAPL and petroleum contamination now driving a century-scale remediation program. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to operators throughout that pre-1986 window had no effective pollution exclusion in Washington and remain enforceable today. The documented remediation scope here — deep excavation, groundwater extraction, reactive barriers, soil solidification, and long-term oversight costs — represents expenditures that historical carriers may be obligated both to recover and to fund going forward.
Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful coverage claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage. Restorical then manages the claim, including accounting, to ensure the cleanup is funded in a timely manner.
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.
