This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1973. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property sits on part of the former Old Tacoma Tideflats Landfill, a municipal dump that operated from the 1940s through approximately 1964. Industrial facility operations — including a rendering plant with wastewater treatment lagoons — began on the site in 1973. Two 10,000-gallon underground storage tanks holding diesel and bunker C heating oil were removed on May 11, 1989, and groundwater monitoring wells installed prior to September 1989 documented diesel and oil contamination exceeding MTCA Method A cleanup levels across multiple sampling rounds from 1989 through 2004. The site received a No Further Action determination through the Voluntary Cleanup Program in 2021. 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.
The industrial operations and underground storage tanks at this property were in place well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. Petroleum contamination characterized in the 1998 closure review as "aged gasoline or mineral spirits" confirms that the releases originated during that pre-1986 operational window. The documented costs of UST removal, groundwater monitoring spanning 1989 through 2004, and the site investigation work required to reach the No Further Action determination represent remediation expenditures that historical CGL carriers may be obligated to recover.
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.