This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1920. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property has operated as a metal fabrication and machining facility since at least the 1920s, with principal activities including cutting, welding, machining, painting, sand blasting, and assembly of steel parts and equipment. Underground storage tanks formerly used for gasoline storage were abandoned on-site prior to 1988, contributing to soil contamination alongside accumulated sandblast grit across multiple areas of the property. Under the Voluntary Cleanup Program, remediation from 2017 to 2018 involved excavation and removal of over 1,200 tons of contaminated soil and sandblast grit, resulting in a No Further Action determination. 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.
Petroleum fuel storage and industrial fabrication operations at this facility date back at least to the 1920s — more than six decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion. The underground storage tanks, operational for decades before their abandonment prior to 1988, represent a pre-1986 contamination source of exactly the type those policies were written to cover. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the facility's long operational window may be obligated to fund recovery of the documented remediation costs — over 1,200 tons of excavated material disposed of under a formal VCP cleanup.
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.
