This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1930. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Lockheed Shipbuilding Company operated at this Seattle property from the 1930s through its closure in 1988, running a major industrial shipyard with underground storage tanks holding fuel oil, gasoline, BTEX, and diesel. A leaking underground storage tank release was reported in April 1992, and subsequent investigation confirmed groundwater contamination by both petroleum-diesel compounds and metals. The site underwent cleanup under Washington's standard cleanup program and received a No Further Action determination in December 2011. 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.
Fuel storage and industrial shipbuilding operations at this property began more than five decades before 1986, and the underground storage tanks reported leaking in 1992 were very likely installed well before that threshold under standard tank lifecycle assumptions. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to Lockheed Shipbuilding during its 1930s-through-1988 operational window would have covered pollution events without an effective exclusion. The full arc of remediation expenditures — from the 1992 release investigation through the 2011 No Further Action closure — represents costs that historical carriers on the risk during those pre-1986 decades may be obligated to reimburse.
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.