This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1873. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.

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.

Creosote-derived PAH contamination is the textbook example of slow, continuous release: compounds deposited through routine railroad maintenance over decades migrate gradually into soil and groundwater rather than arriving as a discrete spill. That migration pattern — documented here from operations beginning in 1873 — is exactly how occurrence-based CGL policies issued to this site's operators before 1986 were triggered, with each policy period potentially capturing a separate covered occurrence. Historical carriers whose policies were in force during the site's long span of railroad and industrial activity remain the most direct avenue for recovering the documented remediation expenditures incurred during the mid-2010s cleanup.

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.