This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1948. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
This property housed the Simplot food processing and packaging facility from the late 1940s through the 1990s, with industrial operations centered on vegetable processing supported by a boiler room, engine room, and compressor room. The facility relied on three underground storage tanks — a 1,400-gallon gasoline UST, a 4,500-gallon diesel UST, and a 10,000-gallon bunker C oil UST — to power its operations; the diesel and bunker C tanks were taken out of service in 1977 and subsequently closed-in-place with sand before their physical removal in 2007, while the gasoline tank was retired in 1983 and excavated in 1988. During tank removals, floating oil was recovered with sorbent pads and impacted soil was managed on-site. Site investigations and monitoring have been conducted from 2006 through 2022, with cleanup still in progress 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.
All three USTs at this site were retired — in 1977 and 1983 — while occurrence-based CGL policies were still the industry standard and had no effective pollution exclusion, meaning the contamination linked to those tanks and past spills arose squarely within the coverage window those carriers accepted. The documented remediation record — two rounds of UST removals spanning nearly two decades, floating-oil recovery, soil management, and more than fifteen years of investigation and monitoring — represents expenditures that historical carriers may be obligated to recover. With active cleanup continuing under the VCP, those same pre-1986 policies are also a plausible source of funding for the remediation work that still lies ahead.
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.
