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.

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.

Waste disposal activities that generated contamination at this property began in the mid-1980s — within the window when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were still standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. The discovery of numerous buried drums during the 1989 excavation points to sustained operations over multiple years, strengthening the case that contamination-generating activity was underway before 1986. Remediation costs incurred under the Voluntary Cleanup Program to address halogenated organics, metals, and petroleum contamination at this site may be recoverable from historical carriers whose CGL policies were in force during that operational period.

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.