This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1955. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This Tacoma property hosted boat building operations prior to 1955, followed by continuous electroplating use from 1955 through 1986 under successive operators — Seymour Electroplating, Puget Sound Plating Company, and American Plating, Inc. American Plating filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 1986 and all plating operations ceased, with a Consent Order executed with property owner Lewis R. Jones in November of that year. A Site Hazard Assessment confirmed groundwater contamination with chlorinated solvents and heavy metals — including vinyl chloride, TCE, PCE, cadmium, chromium, lead, nickel, and arsenic — exceeding MTCA Method A cleanup levels, with contaminated seeps also identified on the property. The site has since received 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.
Electroplating operations at this site ran continuously from 1955 through 1986, spanning more than three decades during which occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The groundwater contamination documented here — chlorinated solvents and heavy metals tied to those plating operations — is precisely the kind of long-duration industrial release these pre-1986 policies were written to cover. The successive operators and property owner who held CGL coverage during that 31-year window may still bear obligations for the remediation costs incurred at this site.
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.