This property has a documented history as a public works and maintenance facility going back to 1963. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
The Tacoma City Materials Laboratory was established by 1963 as a municipal asphalt testing facility operated by the City of Tacoma, where trichloroethylene (TCE) was used as a solvent in the testing process. TCE recovery operations ran from 1968 to 1973, and contamination from those historical operations has since been documented in soil and groundwater at the property. The City engaged Ecology's Voluntary Cleanup Program across two periods — 1998 to 2007 and 2008 to 2019 — during which a drum and drum liquids were removed in 2004, soil was excavated, a remedial investigation and feasibility study were completed, and groundwater monitoring continued through the 2000s. 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.
TCE releases at this property are directly tied to municipal laboratory operations that predate 1986 by more than two decades — an era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. The City of Tacoma's documented remediation expenditures span two separate VCP engagements totaling over two decades, covering site investigation, soil removal, drum disposal, and sustained groundwater monitoring. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the City during the active TCE-use window may be obligated both to recover those past cleanup costs and to fund remediation work that remains ongoing.
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.
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.
