This property has a documented history as a bulk fuel distribution terminal going back to 1917. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property was part of the former Rainier Brewery complex, with a large oil cistern — approximately 50 by 35 feet — documented on Sanborn fire insurance maps as far back as 1917 and used to store heavy oil at the Malt House parcel. A remedial excavation in 2020 removed the cistern along with approximately 1,698.56 tons of contaminated soil. Subsequent quarterly groundwater monitoring from September 2023 through June 2024 confirmed that contaminant levels met cleanup standards, resulting in a No Further Action determination and the establishment of institutional controls. 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 source of petroleum contamination here — a bulk oil cistern in continuous documented use since at least 1917 — predates the 1986 threshold for occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies by more than six decades. Carriers who issued CGL policies to Rainier Brewery or its operators across those pre-1986 decades did so before effective pollution exclusions became standard, leaving those policies potentially enforceable against the documented remediation costs. The excavation of nearly 1,700 tons of impacted soil and the multi-year groundwater monitoring program that followed represent exactly the category of expenditure those historical policies were written to cover.
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.
