This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1916. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup.
This property in Olympia has a documented industrial history spanning well over a century, with facility construction dates as early as 1916 and historical operations noted in the late 1800s — including wood product manufacturing, a shingle plant that operated through the 1960s, fruit processing, and rail spur activity. Contamination consisting of petroleum, PAHs, dioxins/furans, and metals has been characterized as historic releases associated with those industrial and manufacturing uses. An Independent Cleanup Action involving soil excavation was previously completed, and a Phase II Environmental Site Assessment conducted in 2012–2013 scoped future remedial work, including hazardous building material abatement and handling of investigation-derived wastes; full remediation has not yet commenced. 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 contamination here — petroleum hydrocarbons, PAHs, dioxins/furans, and metals — is the product of industrial operations that began generations before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were still the standard and pollution exclusions were not yet in routine use. Wood product manufacturing and shingle plant operations generate precisely the classes of contamination now documented at this site, and those releases would have fallen within the coverage triggered by pre-1986 CGL policy language. The estimated remedial action costs facing the current property owner — including building material abatement, further excavation, and waste disposal — are the type of future cleanup expenditures that historical carriers whose policies were in force during the site's industrial era may still be obligated to fund.
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.
