This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1964. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as a lumber fabrication, storage, and distribution facility from at least 1964, with underground storage tanks holding gasoline, diesel, and waste oil supporting those industrial operations. Remediation under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included UST removal prior to 1993, in-situ bioremediation through injection of microbes and nutrients in 2002, excavation of 1,566 tons of petroleum-contaminated soil in 2016, and in-situ chemical oxidation using hydrogen peroxide injected into 15 groundwater wells between 2016 and 2017. Multi-year groundwater monitoring continued through at least January 2018, and 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.
The petroleum contamination here originated from fuel and waste oil USTs installed and in active use from at least 1964 — more than two decades before occurrence-based CGL policies began incorporating effective pollution exclusions. Documented remediation expenditures — tank removals, excavation of 1,566 tons of impacted soil, two rounds of in-situ treatment, and years of groundwater monitoring — are directly tied to releases from those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the lumber facility operators during that window may still be obligated to recover those cleanup costs.
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
Ready to learn more?
Contact UsThis analysis is preliminary and based on publicly available records. Restorical Research is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
