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.
This property historically served as a railroad corridor running through downtown Spokane, with petroleum products, lead, arsenic, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) deposited in shallow soil and groundwater from those operations. Investigations conducted in the 1990s characterized the nature and extent of the contamination, and between 2004 and 2006, more than 47,000 tons of contaminated soil were excavated — clean fill was reused on-site while impacted material was hauled to a landfill. Remaining contaminated soil was capped, an Environmental Covenant was recorded, and groundwater monitoring in February 2005 confirmed that contaminants were no longer detected; the site subsequently received No Further Action status under the Voluntary Cleanup Program. 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, metal, and PAH contamination found here originated from railroad corridor operations — fueling, maintenance, and material handling — that predate 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion. Historical carriers who issued CGL coverage to the railroad operators or property owners during that pre-1986 window may remain obligated to address cleanup costs tied to those operations. The documented remediation expenditures at this site — removal of over 47,000 tons of impacted soil, capping of residual contamination, Environmental Covenant implementation, and multi-year groundwater monitoring — represent a concrete recovery target against those historical policies.
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.
