This property has a documented history as a farm and agricultural operation going back to 1954. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Richardson's Airway, Inc. operated an aerial pesticide application service at this Yakima property from 1954 to 1992, during which aircraft spray tanks were filled with pesticide solutions and washed down on-site in a dedicated washdown area. That decades-long operation left the property contaminated with numerous pesticides and herbicides, requiring excavation and off-site disposal of impacted soils, backfilling with clean fill, at least five years of groundwater monitoring, and institutional controls including restrictive covenants, land use restrictions, and maintained vegetative cover. A final remediation report was approved in 2010, resulting in a No Further Action determination. 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 pesticide contamination at this property originated from aerial applicator operations that ran continuously for nearly four decades beginning in 1954 — more than thirty years before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion. Repeated washdowns and spills at the on-site washdown area constitute the kind of gradual, recurring release those pre-1986 policies were written to cover. The documented remediation expenditures — soil excavation, groundwater monitoring, and long-term institutional controls — represent costs that historical carriers whose policies were in force during Richardson's Airway's pre-1986 operations 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.
