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.
This property, owned by Kwik Lok Corporation, includes a pond area that was filled sometime after 1970 with soil from nearby agricultural operations and subsequently used for equipment and lumber staging, soil piling, and fuel storage via aboveground storage tanks. Fifty-five-gallon drums of waste from a former nickel plating manufacturing process at the adjacent Kwik Lok facility were reportedly buried on site. A Phase II Environmental Site Assessment detected heavy oil-range total petroleum hydrocarbons above MTCA Method A cleanup levels in groundwater, and the site was enrolled in Washington's Voluntary Cleanup Program, ultimately receiving a No Further Action determination. 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.
Kwik Lok Corporation has operated in Yakima since the 1950s, placing the facility's industrial tenure squarely within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were the industry standard. The petroleum contamination found in groundwater here — along with the reported burial of nickel plating manufacturing waste — traces to decades of industrial use conducted during that pre-1986 policy window. The investigation and remediation costs incurred to bring this site to No Further Action status represent expenditures that historical CGL carriers who insured Kwik Lok during its pre-1986 operations may be obligated to cover.
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.