This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1977. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property 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.

Industrial operations at this property began in 1977 — nearly a decade before occurrence-based CGL policies adopted effective pollution exclusions — when Livingston Boats introduced the manufacturing and drum-storage practices that produced the buried waste fill underlying the current contamination. The slow, diffuse releases associated with leaking drums and industrial fill are precisely the type of occurrence that pre-1986 policies were written to address, with no single accident defining the liability event. As cleanup continues under the Standard Cleanup program, the remediation costs incurred to date — containment infrastructure, soil excavations, odor-control engineering — and those yet to come may be recoverable from historical carriers whose policies were in force during Livingston Boats' operational years.

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.