This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
The Swanson Property served as a storage yard and office facility in Seattle, with site records documenting plywood structures, a portable office, multiple vehicles, pieces of machinery, and 55-gallon drums on the premises, along with visible oil staining on surface soils. In 2014, the incoming property owner removed solid waste and debris from the site. Ecology subsequently designated the property No Further Action. 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.
The oil staining and drum storage documented at this property are consistent with long-term industrial operations of the kind that routinely predate 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were still the industry standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. If the storage and equipment operations responsible for the observed surface contamination were conducted during that pre-1986 window, historical CGL carriers may retain obligations tied to those releases. The waste removal and debris disposal costs borne by the new owner in 2014 are precisely the type of cleanup expenditure those policies were written to address.
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.
