This property has a documented history as a public works and maintenance facility predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
The Federal Aviation Administration's Vancouver field maintenance facility — a three-bay vehicle maintenance shop — accumulated contamination from floor trench drains discharging into an old oil/water separator, a septic tank, a drain field pipeline, and a dry well. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program ran from 2009 through 2011 and included removal of all four legacy infrastructure components, excavation and off-site disposal of approximately 2.4 cubic yards of contaminated soil and 15 tons of concrete and steel, disposal of accumulated waste fluids, installation of a new oil/water separator, and connection of the facility to the city sanitary sewer system. Ecology has issued a No Further Action determination for the site. 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/water separator, septic tank, and dry well removed from this FAA maintenance facility were legacy systems that had received vehicle-maintenance discharge for decades, with installation dates pointing to the period before 1986 when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. That pre-1986 operational window — during which sludge and waste fluids were accumulating in subsurface infrastructure — is precisely the period those policies were written to cover. The documented remediation costs here, spanning infrastructure removal, soil excavation, waste-fluid disposal, and a sewer connection, represent expenditures that historical carriers who issued CGL policies during those years may be obligated to recover.
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.
