This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1925. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
This property has served as an industrial facility since the 1920s, beginning with lead arsenate pesticide manufacturing by Latimer-Goodwin Chemical Company in 1925, followed by Grasselli Chemicals — a DuPont subsidiary — continuing pesticide production through 1946 and dust mixing until 1949. Subsequent operators included Cabin Creek Lumber (1951) and Justus Company's wood treatment facility (1968), before Superlon Plastics purchased the property in 1972. Contamination from these decades of industrial use — arsenic, lead, volatile organic compounds, petroleum hydrocarbons, PAHs, and phenolic compounds — has been identified in groundwater and surface water, and cleanup is underway under Agreed Order DE 5940. 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.
More than six decades of hazardous industrial operations — pesticide manufacturing, wood treatment, chemical storage — were conducted at this property before 1986, the year occurrence-based CGL policies stopped reliably covering pollution claims. The arsenic, lead, and organic contamination now being remediated is directly attributed to those pre-1986 operations, creating a remediation cost trail that stretches back to the carriers who insured each successive operator. With cleanup ongoing under a state Agreed Order, both past expenditures and future remediation obligations may fall within the coverage obligations of those historical policies.
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.