This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1900. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property 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.

Fueling operations at this switchyard began more than eight decades before 1986, generating petroleum and heavy-metal contamination — including arsenic, diesel hydrocarbons, and Bunker C residuals — that has migrated into groundwater and sediment across the site. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to the railroad's operators during that extended pre-1986 window carried no effective pollution exclusion under Washington law and remain enforceable today. With cleanup underway and remediation costs still accumulating across multiple environmental media, historical carriers who covered this facility during its peak fueling era may be obligated both to reimburse past expenditures and to fund the ongoing work.

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.