This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1940. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This waterfront property in Gig Harbor operated as a boat building and repair facility from the 1940s until the City of Gig Harbor purchased it in 2004, with a south parcel building present since the 1950s. Site investigations under an Agreed Order identified contaminated sediments in the marine railway vicinity, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), heavy metals including mercury, and tributyltin. Cleanup was conducted through the Voluntary Cleanup Program, and the site has reached No Further Action status. 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.
Boat building and repair operations at this property began in the 1940s and ran continuously for more than four decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion. The sediment contamination documented here — PAHs, PCBs, mercury, and tributyltin — is characteristic of decades of marine industrial activity spanning that pre-1986 CGL era. Carriers who issued occurrence-based policies to the boatyard's operators during those decades may still bear obligations for the remediation costs incurred to bring the site to No Further Action.
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.