This property has a documented history as a landfill going back to 1934. 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.

Contamination at this site stems from more than three decades of waste disposal and industrial operations that began in 1934 — over fifty years before occurrence-based CGL policies gave way to claims-made forms with pollution exclusions. The documented remediation expenditures, including petroleum-impacted soil removal, solvent cleanup, and buried-waste abatement, trace directly to operations conducted during the pre-1986 policy window. Historical carriers who issued CGL coverage to the operators of this landfill and adjacent industrial properties during that era may be obligated both to recover past cleanup costs and to fund the remediation still 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.