This property has a documented history as a landfill going back to 1924. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations 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.

The CKD disposal that produced the contamination at this site began in 1979, and the mining operations it reclaimed date back more than six decades before 1986 — the year occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies stopped reliably covering pollution claims. The metals contamination now documented in groundwater and surface water is a direct consequence of those pre-1986 disposal activities, and the remediation costs incurred to date — investigation, seepage management, long-term monitoring — along with the cleanup work still ahead fall squarely within the scope of occurrence-based CGL coverage. Historical carriers who insured the operators and arrangers during the 1970s and 1980s may be obligated to fund both past and future remediation expenditures.

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.