This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1951. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup.
This property was first developed in 1951 and hosted multiple industrial tenants, including Widing Transportation, which began truck washing operations around 1967 and was licensed to haul chemicals, acids, and chlorinated solvents. A maintenance garage was constructed in 1969, and the site housed a 20,000-gallon diesel underground storage tank and a 5,000-gallon leaded gasoline UST, both removed in the early 1990s. The facility was a registered hazardous waste generator from 1980 to 1987, with EPA discovery dating to July 1979. Recent Phase II environmental assessments have confirmed a volatile organic compound groundwater plume extending from the former maintenance garage, with tetrachloroethylene (PCE) at 1,120 µg/L and trichloroethylene (TCE) at 132 µg/L — concentrations exceeding MTCA Method A cleanup levels by more than two orders of magnitude. The site is enrolled in the Voluntary Cleanup Program and awaits remediation. 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.
Industrial operations at this property began in 1951 and expanded through the 1960s with truck washing, chemical hauling, and underground fuel storage — all well within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. The chlorinated solvent contamination now documented in groundwater, including PCE and TCE at concentrations far above cleanup standards, traces to decades of industrial use at a facility that operated continuously through that pre-1986 policy window. The investigation and remediation costs the property now faces — plume delineation, monitoring, and cleanup of halogenated solvents — could plausibly be funded by historical carriers whose CGL policies were in force during those operations.
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.