This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1945. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property was developed as an airfield in approximately 1945 and operated for decades as a multi-use aviation complex, encompassing hangars, office buildings, a runway, a control tower, a fueling area, and the Max Robertson Paint Shop among its structures. Voluntary cleanup under Washington's Voluntary Cleanup Program ran from October 2005 to December 2008 and involved excavating and disposing of 1,540 tons of contaminated soil, removing an 8,000-gallon underground storage tank, six septic tanks, eight dry wells, an underground sump, and four above-ground storage tanks. Site buildings were subsequently demolished and excavation areas were backfilled with clean soil, 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.
Aviation and industrial operations at this property date to approximately 1945, placing the contamination-generating activity squarely within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. An Ecology inspection of the paint shop component was conducted as early as April 1986, confirming that operations — and the associated contamination exposure — were ongoing at the very threshold year. The three-year voluntary cleanup effort, which involved removal of over 1,500 tons of impacted soil and the elimination of more than a dozen underground and above-ground storage structures, generated documented remediation expenditures that historical carriers who issued CGL policies during those pre-1986 operational decades 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.
