This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1905. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.

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.

Commercial operations at this property date back more than eight decades before 1986, documented by Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from as early as 1893, King County assessment records, aerial photographs from 1936 onward, and city directories from 1920 onward. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to the property's operators during that extensive pre-1986 window carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The groundwater contamination now confirmed beneath this property — benzene, MTBE, and vinyl chloride all exceeding cleanup levels — has triggered remediation obligations under the Standard Cleanup program whose costs historical carriers may be obligated both to recover and to fund going forward.

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.