ADDRESSING ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES FOR A DRY CLEANING BUSINESS CAN GET EXPENSIVE. TO HELP DEFRAY THE COST, SOME STATES HAVE CLEANUP TRUST FUNDS FOR DRY CLEANERS TO PAY INTO AND EVENTUALLY USE. AS OF NOVEMBER 2019, THOSE STATES ARE ALABAMA, CONNECTICUT, ILLINOIS, FLORIDA, KANSAS, NORTH CAROLINA, OREGON, SOUTH CAROLINA, TENNESSEE, TEXAS, AND WISCONSIN.

BY: DRU CARLISLE

While it would be ideal to rely on these funds alone to pay for necessary investigation and remediation services, it’s not always the most viable option because while there are certainly strong funds still in operation, we have seen that some funds are considering sunsetting, and with others, reimbursement payments are being delayed.

Another or additional solution for dry cleaners is to track down their historical Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance policies. By locating these policies, a dry cleaner can use them as assets (money) to help cover the costs associated with environmental investigations and cleanups, such as investigation, remediation, and legal fees. We’ve been assisting dry cleaners in states with and without trust funds through this process for over two decades.

Here are some common questions we hear from the dry cleaning community about state cleanup funds.

1. WHAT CAN DRY CLEANERS IN STATES WITHOUT ADEQUATE CLEANUP FUNDS DO TO GET HELP WITH FUNDING THEIR CLEANUPS?
The first thing that a dry cleaner should do is look for all of their old insurance policies. Typically, the older the policy, the fewer restrictions they have regarding covering environmental contamination claims. Generally, we need policies that were issued before 1985. Dry cleaners should look through all old bank records, and write down the name and company of all insurance brokers they have worked with. Secondly, they should jot down a history of when they started at the location, who they purchased insurance from, what types of stores were at that location (or adjacent) and what other insurance was part of the property. They will also need to identify whether or not there was a previous dry cleaner who may have caused or contributed to contamination. Finally, we recommend not moving forward without expert advice. Often times if a dry cleaner launches into a cleanup without notifying insurance carrier(s), they will not be reimbursed for money spent on the site investigation and cleanup.

2. WHY ARE INSURANCE CLAIMS SO SIGNIFICANT IN TRIGGERING INSURANCE COVERAGE?
Making a valid claim to your carrier can mean the difference between paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a site cleanup compared to paying a small amount for startup costs like. In most instances, a valid claim made to an insurance company will be defended. Among other things, this defense can include legal fees and site investigation activities.

3. SHOULD A DRY CLEANER PAY OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES FOR A CLEANUP THEN LATER TENDER A CLAIM TO RECOVER THAT LOSS OF EXPENSES?
Depending on the state, it is common for an insurance carrier to decline paying costs incurred before a claim was tendered. We have had several clients that spent money on investigations and cleanups, but were only reimbursed a fraction of their costs because the insurance carriers felt they could have managed the work differently and cheaper.

4. IF A DRY CLEANER IS WAITLISTED FOR A CLEANUP FUND, CAN HE OR SHE PROCEED WITH THE SALE OF THE BUSINESS? WILL THE VALUE OF HIS OR HER BUSINESS BE ADEQUATELY PROTECTED?
In many states that have cleanup funds, a prospective purchaser agreement (PPA) will allow a property transaction to proceed prior to a regulatory release and sign off of no further action. However, a PPA generally does not remove any contingent liabilities associated with the dry cleaning site; but instead delays the inevitable site investigation and potential cleanup. It also allows the purchaser more time to discover any additional problems that the seller’s are often responsible for.

Furthermore, the involvement of a dry cleaner in a fund does not remove any contingent environmental liabilities from the site itself, nor does it fully protect the dry cleaner from any potential actions that might arise from contamination. These issues could include diminished values to property or to other properties that might be affected by contamination coming from the site. Also, the cleanup funds do not fully protect a dry cleaner from a citizen or third party suit associated with contamination coming from his/her site.

Learn how to sell your dry cleaning business in three steps

5. HOW CAN DRY CLEANERS IN STATES WITH CLEANUP FUNDS EVALUATE WHERE THE BEST FUNDING IS FOR THEM?
Such funds may best be used for either actual cleanup efforts, known as remediation, for which insurance dollars are generally more difficult to recover, or for sites at which such insurance dollars or other responsible parties cannot be identified. Cleanup fund dollars may also provide seed money to perform any insurance archaeology or pay for other efforts that can identify where dollars for cleanup may be found. The bottom line is that a fund with enough money to pay for cleanups is a good thing. However, the problem is that most states do not have enough money in the fund to cover the necessary cleanups at this time.

6. WHAT WOULD BE AN IDEAL SITUATION FOR A DRY CLEANER WHO HAS ACCESS TO A STATE CLEAN-UP FUND AND INSURANCE COVERAGE?
An ideal situation is a fund that allows dry cleaners to pursue any and all avenues to bring dollars to the table and be available as a safety net for cleaners that do not have other avenues to pursue. Ideally the fund would be used to seed initial efforts, such as finding insurance dollars to bring to the table. We have had situations where the historical insurance paid the deductible required by the fund, the fund monies kicked in and the insurance addressed dollars above the fund limit.

See how one dry cleaner’s state funding challenges were solved by insurance archeology

7. WHY SHOULD DRY CLEANERS FEEL CONFIDENT ABOUT THEIR ABILITY TO FIND HELP WITH CLEAN-UP WHEN STATE CLEANUP FUNDS ARE NOT AVAILABLE OR ARE NOT FINANCIALLY ADEQUATE?
Our experience has been that dry cleaners, particularly dry cleaners that have been at their site since at least the early 1980’s, have an excellent opportunity to get the site investigation and remediation paid for by either their old insurance companies or other responsible parties. We have even conducted individual site investigations costing over $2,000,000 at no cost to individual dry cleaners by using liability insurance policies from the 1980’s to pay for contamination problems. After successfully working on over 200 dry cleaning sites nationwide, we have helped settle over $500,000,000 in insurance coverage claims, including individual projects in excess of $44,000,000. There’s no reason why contamination has to destroy the value of a dry cleaning business when there are viable solutions available.

To find out if historical insurance assets are an available funding avenue for you, contact us for a confidential consultation.

Dru Carlisle, Director of Drycleaner Accounts
For over 10 years, Dru has helped numerous business and property owners facing regulatory action, navigate and manage their environmental liability. Dru has vast experience in assisting dry cleaners in securing funding for their environmental cleanups through historical insurance policies. Dru is a member of numerous drycleaning associations in addition to serving on the Midwest Drycleaning and Laundry Institute (MWDLI) advisory council and on the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute Board (DLI) as an Allied Trade District Committee Member.

LEARN HOW OLD INSURANCE POLICIES CAN BE USED AS FUNDS TO PAY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTIGATION, REMEDIATION AND LEGAL COSTS.

BY: STEPHEN HENSHAW & DAVID O’NEILL

Once I met with a dry cleaner who said he had gone to the attic in search of his old business package policies. He explained that he had no idea before visiting an attorney that these old expired insurance policies could be of any use to him. Since they were package policies, they contained multiple lines of insurance. Parts of the policy provided coverage against damage to his building, against break-ins, storm damage and even workers compensation coverage. As far as he knew all of this coverage had long ago expired. Why would he still have copies of these old policies? There was no reason, he thought, that he would want to have kept them. They would have to be in a box or two that he had neglected to put in the dumpster.

LEARNING THE VALUE OF OLD COMMERCIAL GENERAL LIABILITY POLICIES IN ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUPS

He had been told by his attorney to look for that part of the policy that addressed damage to the property of others. Not damage to others he might do in his delivery van. That was covered under the automobile insurance section of the policy. Rather, it was the part of the policy that covered his customers (the slip and fall coverage) that he was looking for. His attorney had told him that part of the old package policies could provide him the coverage he needed now to address the environmental contamination on his property from perchloroethylene (Perc) spills below ground that had occurred years earlier.

THE IMPACT OF PERC SPILLS WHEN REFINANCING A PROPERTY

It was these Perc spills that apparently had caused all the trouble. The landlord, a strip mall owner, had been refinancing and the bank required that he conduct a simple environmental audit that had included soil sampling. The samples had shown Perc in the soil at his end of the strip mall. The landlord was going to have to clean this up to get his refinancing. The cleanup would be expensive and the dry cleaner was expected to take care of the bill because he was the one who had accidentally put the Perc into the soil over the many years of his operation there. The attorney had assured the dry cleaner that this was indeed legal. The law in his state required that “the polluter” remove the pollution or at least reimburse the landlord if he had to have it done. Up until this time, the dry cleaner had not considered himself a polluter–it was a new role he was going to have to get used to before this nightmare would be over.

UTILIZING OLD CGL POLICIES TO FUND ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP

His attorney had explained that in his state, as in most states, it took policies issued before 1986 to pay for environmental investigations. This was because the later policies contained pollution exclusions that the courts in his state recognized as barring coverage for Perc spills. Paying the landlord’s environmental experts was likely to be too great for the dry cleaner to handle. After years of operating a successful business, he had significant savings, but these ongoing costs could deplete that savings account in no time. He may even need to consider bankruptcy unless he could find those insurance policies issued before 1986, and successfully file claims that would require his insurers to step in and defend him.

Learn more about old CGL policies by visiting Historical Commercial General Liability (CGL) Policies 101

CALLING IN THE INSURANCE ARCHEOLOGIST

Digging around in the attic, he succeeded in finding one collection of old policies, but these policies dated only to the late 1990s. Telephoning the insurance agent identified on the policies, the dry cleaner found that that insurance agency was no longer in business. Despairing, he reported his lack of success to the attorney, prepared to discuss bankruptcy instead of insurance recovery. However, the attorney suggested another option. He suggested that the dry cleaner hire an insurance archeologist to see what insurance might be located elsewhere.

Working backward from the earliest insurance policy, the insurance archeologist was able to discover that another insurance agency had purchased the defunct agency’s book of business prior to closing.

Contacting that insurance agency, the archeologist found that old policy files no longer existed, but that the agent would permit him to review his old accounting files. A review of these files identified some premium notices issued to the dry cleaner in 1985. These notices identified the policy numbers, dates and insurance carrier.

The insurance archeologist provided a specimen policy issued by the same insurance carrier to a different dry cleaner in his state from the 1985 policy period. This policy had a pollution exclusion on it but that exclusion, the attorney advised, was not a bar to coverage as long as the Perc releases had not been intentional, and had been “sudden and accidental.”

Using the premium notices and specimen policy together, the dry cleaner’s attorney was able to file a claim with the insurance company. The company stepped in to defend the dry cleaner, paid his attorney fees and paid the landlord’s environmental experts.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

Don’t give up. Get some professional help and look under every rock. Ask your attorney about how insurance archeology can help you locate the records you need to defend against environmental claims.

To find out if you have historical assets, contact us for a Confidential Insurance Archeology® consultation.

As seen in Cleaner and Launderer

Stephen Henshaw, Founder at EnviroForensics & PolicyFind has over 30+ years of experience and holds professional registrations in numerous states. Henshaw serves as a client manager and technical manager on complex projects involving contaminated and derelict properties, creative litigation, deceased landowners, tax liens, non-performing banknotes, resurrecting defunct companies and cost recovery. Henshaw’s expertise includes a comprehensive understanding of past and current industry and waste handling practices and the fate and transport of chlorinated solvents in soil and groundwater. He has served as a testifying expert for plaintiffs and defendants on high profile cases involving causation and timing of releases, contaminant dispersion, allocation, damages, past costs, and closure estimates. He has a strong knowledge of state and federal regulations, insurance law, RCRA, and CERCLA. He has managed several hundred projects including landfills, solvent and petroleum refineries, foundries, metal plating shops, food processors, dry cleaners, wood treating facilities, chemical distribution facilities, aerospace manufacturing facilities, and transporters and provides strategy instrumental in funding projects and moving them to closure.

David O’Neill, JD, Director of Investigations at PolicyFind has 30+ years of experience in claims recovery on behalf of corporate policyholders involving environmental property damage and toxic tort and asbestos exposure claims. O’Neill has extensive experience in locating and retrieving insurance coverage evidence on behalf of potentially responsible parties responding to environmental investigation and remediation demands. His former investigative work includes unique matters involving Holocaust victims rights, mergers & acquisitions of a national landfill operator, and on matters involving national archives.

Insurance archeology solves funding issues for a dry cleaner who was distressed by the lack of effectiveness of his state’s environmental response fund.

 
This is the story of a Wisconsin dry cleaner who wanted to retire, but his property was plagued with environmental contamination and funding challenges despite his enrollment in Wisconsin’s Dry Cleaner Environmental Response Fund (DERF). Here’s how he found a way to get his unsellable property clean and ready for redevelopment.
 

The Discovery of PERC Contamination

The dry cleaner was in operation from 1968-2001 and throughout that time tetrachloroethene (PERC), a dry cleaning chemical, was used to clean its customers’ clothes. PERC became a common dry cleaning chemical in the 1930s and is now less frequently used in dry cleaning operations due to concerns for worker health and the environment.
 

Engaging the DERF

In 2001, the dry cleaner decided to retire and utilize the Wisconsin DERF so he could sell his business. The fund was contributed to through a license fee and a solvent fee by dry cleaners. Luckily, the dry cleaner owner contributed to the DERF program while in business and was eligible to utilize the funds for his investigation and remediation. 

In hopes of selling his dry cleaning business to a buyer, he had to conduct an initial environmental investigation to begin the environmental due diligence process and gain access to his DERF reimbursements.
 

Working with the State’s Environmental Response Trust Fund

From 2002-2011, the dry cleaner paid for his clean up activities out-of-pocket while waiting for his reimbursements to come through from the DERF program. He contracted an environmental firm to conduct Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments (ESA), but the environmental firm’s work was constricted to a very slow pace due to the slow payments from DERF. 

By 2014, the dry cleaner was well into his retirement and was no longer running his business, but he still needed to clean up the environmental contamination in order to sell the property. After spending roughly $250,000 out-of-pocket for his environmental investigation and remediation work, he had completely run out of personal funds. He could no longer pay for any additional work upfront and he could no longer wait on reimbursements from DERF.

Learn how state-funded environmental cleanups programs are being phased out.

Contacting local dry cleaning association for help

After the frustration the dry cleaner experienced with the DERF program, he contacted the Wisconsin Fabricare Institute (WFI), part of the national Drycleaning and Laundry Institute (DLI), for help on how to get him through this predicament. WFI recommended contacting EnviroForensics and its insurance archeology division, PolicyFind to find alternative funding sources.
 

Engaging with EnviroForensics

PolicyFind conducted insurance archeology to locate the dry cleaner’s old insurance policies. They evaluated the dry cleaner’s historical commercial general liability (CGL) policies and developed an insurance claim strategy to access funding that could be used to complete the environmental investigation and remediation–so he could finally sell his property. 

To recap, in order to solve the dry cleaner’s financial challenges, PolicyFind:

1. Conducted Confidential Insurance Archeology® to find the insurance coverage that would pay for the cleanup.
2. Tendered the insurance claim with the insurance carrier, which led to the carrier confirming that the insurance would pay for the environmental work.

The switch from using DERF funds to historical insurance coverage to pay for the environmental work allowed the dry cleaner to finally clean up his property, which was a precursor for being able to sell his property.
 

The environmental investigation and remediation process

Once the insurance archeology funds were secured, EnviroForensics completed the remaining site investigation activities which included soil and groundwater delineation as well as vapor intrusion assessments. The results showed that there was soil contamination, which required additional remediation to gain site closure. Geologists and engineers developed a remediation plan to demolish the building and remove the existing contamination. EnviroForensics conducted a soil excavation and removed approximately 400 pounds of PERC and 670 tons of contaminated soil.

After the remediation, EnviroForensics completed a Phase I ESA to prepare the property for resale and helped the former dry cleaner find an investor to purchase the property, who took on the remaining environmental liability, which included ongoing environmental monitoring.
 

EnviroForensics helped find a buyer

Since the majority of the environmental work was complete and the CGL insurance policies had enough funding for the ongoing environmental monitoring, the investor felt comfortable working with EnviroForensics to settle the environmental claim and continue cleaning up the property.

A New Life for the Property

The ongoing site work facilitated the sale of the property and future redevelopment plans are underway for potential reuse as a commercial office building. 

The former dry cleaner site is nearing the end of its investigation and remediation work. The closure of the site, under the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR), is anticipated after minor investigation follow-up activities and continued environmental monitoring by 2021.

EnviroForensics is the most trusted environmental consultant in the dry cleaning industry. Learn more about our services for dry cleaners.

EnviroForensics^® is a full-service environmental consulting firm that has cleaned up more dry cleaning sites than any other firm. We’re the only firm that focuses on finding the money to pay for investigation, cleanup, and legal fees. We restore the value of your property while protecting you from regulatory and legal issues.

STATE TRUST FUNDS INTENDED FOR CLEANING UP DRY CLEANER SITES HAVE BEEN GREAT TO RELY ON. HOWEVER, MANY HAVE FALLEN ON HARD TIMES.

BY: DRU CARLISLE

Some Funds are either running out of money or have already sunset. What is the dry cleaning industry turning to for the money needed to respond to environmental liability? Dry cleaners are increasingly using their historical insurance policies to pay for environmental cleanup claims—protecting their business from financial ruin or bankruptcy.

The dry cleaning industry has seen more than its fair share of costly and complicated environmental contamination issues. In the past, eligible dry cleaners in almost 25% of the United States have been able to use money from state trust funds that were established solely for this purpose. Unfortunately, these state trust funds have proven to be not sustainable in most situations, and the number of available funds is declining. In the coming years, it’s anticipated that those looking to the state fund programs will experience even more delays in reimbursement of money already spent out-of-pocket, and or will lose the fund altogether.

Who is potentially impacted by this news? Any dry cleaner in Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, or Wisconsin.

This is frightening news for dry cleaners in these states, who are liable for cleaning up environmental contamination caused by cleaning solvents like PCE (Perc) or TCE. However, another financial solution is still available to dry cleaners—their historical Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance policies. By finding their historical insurance policies, dry cleaners can use them as assets to help pay for their environmental investigation and cleanup. Those residing in states without trust funds have been doing it for years.

HOW CAN DRY CLEANERS USE HISTORICAL INSURANCE POLICIES TO PAY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUPS?
Historical insurance policies are valuable assets that you can use to get money to pay for resolving environmental issues.

Commercial general liability (CGL) policies provide coverage to businesses for bodily injury, personal and property damage caused the business’ operations, products, or injury that occurs on the business’ premises. Most every business has old CGL policies since they are commonly purchased as a necessity to cover potential costs incurred by defending and reasonably resolving suits seeking to hold them liable for alleged bodily injuries or property damage.

Historical Commercial General Liability (CGL) policies from before 1985-86 typically don’t have a clause that disallows coverage for releases of contaminants. This means that if a dry cleaner can find their or their predecessor’s old insurance assets, then those policies can pay for the environmental investigation and cleanup required by the state’s environmental regulatory agency. Additionally, the policies would likely protect dry cleaners from any neighbors who decide to sue them for damage to their property. These policies also entitle dry cleaners to hire an environmental defense attorney at no charge and receive insurance payments immediately without upfront payments, unlike most state trust funds.

Once triggered historical commercial general liability (CGL) policies can be used to recoup or pay for 1) site investigation, 2) remediation/cleanup, 3) interim remedial measures, 4) building a legal case, 5) responsible party search, 6) interfacing with agencies, 7) defense against legal claims, and 8) legal fees. To learn more about CGL policies, visit How Does It Work? CGL Policies and Insurance Archeology.

HOW DO YOU FIND OLD INSURANCE POLICIES?
Insurance archeologists conduct insurance archeology to find lost or misplaced liability insurance policies that can defend and indemnify policyholders against claims such as environmental property damage claims.

EnviroForensics® is the nation’s leader in finding and using historical insurance coverage. Our insurance archeology division, PolicyFind™, has decades of experience identifying and locating lost, mislaid, or destroyed liability insurance policies for policyholders. 

First, insurance archeologists retrace the genealogy of historical insurance coverage to identify past owners and operators who may have contributed or caused personal injury or environmental damage. 

Next, they use an extensive specimen policy library to help confirm terms and conditions, research data services, and physical file searches to follow leads and locate evidence of old insurance policies. 

And finally, the results of the insurance archeology process are assembled into insurance coverage charts, which visually reconstruct the CGL insurance policies.

The rebuilding of historical land use and insurance can limit the liability of individual clients. Initiating coverage from these policies thereby creates an alternative funding source, which can protect a business from severe financial loss and even save a company from bankruptcy. 

“If historical insurance policies are lost or misplaced, PolicyFind’s expert insurance archeologists will find the needed evidence of their existence and create a legally defensible historical insurance coverage chart—saving a dry cleaner’s livelihood,” says Jeff Carnahan, President of EnviroForensics.

Once identified and brought to light, the coverage provided by old insurance policies can be used to hire an environmental consulting firm with specialized expertise in serving the dry cleaning industry by cleaning up its historical environmental pollution problems.

HOW ENVIROFORENSICS CAN HELP
EnviroForensics® is the nation’s leading environmental engineering firm serving dry cleaners. EnviroForensics is the only full-service environmental firm that performs insurance archeology to locate money to pay for environmental investigation, cleanup, and legal fees. EnviroForensics helps clients get their cleanups paid for without significant cost to the clients or their businesses while restoring their property to fair market value.

To find out if historical insurance assets are an available funding avenue for you, contact us for a confidential consultation. 

Dru Carlisle, Director of Drycleaner Accounts
For over 10 years, Dru has helped numerous business and property owners facing regulatory action, navigate and manage their environmental liability. Dru has vast experience in assisting dry cleaners in securing funding for their environmental cleanups through historical insurance policies. Dru is a member of numerous drycleaning associations in addition to serving on the Midwest Drycleaning and Laundry Institute (MWDLI) advisory council and on the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute Board (DLI) as an Allied Trade District Committee Member.

LEARN HOW POLICYFIND USES INSURANCE ARCHEOLOGY TO PUT THE POWER OF THE CGL POLICY BACK IN THE HANDS OF THE POLICYHOLDER

BY: KRISTEN DRAKE

Over 25 years ago, EnviroForensics and PolicyFind’s CEO Steve Henshaw, P.G. discovered the power contained within historical commercial general liability (CGL) insurance policies in the face of a lawsuit or an environmental issue. Henshaw discovered and has since proven, that using a company’s historical CGL insurance policy is an effective funding source to pay for the expensive cost of investigating and cleaning up environmental contamination.

WHAT ARE COMMERCIAL GENERAL LIABILITY INSURANCE POLICIES?

CGL insurance policies are purchased by business owners to cover them against their business’ liability exposures. This is very important in determining whether an individual or business’ old insurance policies can be used to pay for environmental investigations and clean-ups.

This makes CGL policies very important protection for corporate policyholders because they broadly provide defense and indemnity coverage against claims for bodily injury and property damage. Coverage includes products, completed operations, premises, and operations, elevators, and independent contractors, to name a few.

HOW DO “HISTORICAL” COMMERCIAL GENERAL LIABILITY INSURANCE POLICIES WORK?

In general, CGL policies have included and even excluded environmental pollution and contamination language like “unexpected and unintended releases.” Such unexpected and unintended releases mean accidental releases or accidental spills, not intentional releases, which would be better defined as dumping or disposing. CGL policies were not covering individuals and businesses for pollution or contamination associated with dry cleaning operations. A separate environmental policy would be required to cover environmental pollution and contamination.

So, if you or your business bought CGL insurance before the policies contained absolute pollution exclusion language, you are likely to have insurance coverage that can address environmental contamination, even if that contamination has only been recently discovered.

In addition, old policies provide a defense against a claim or suit. In some states, a claim or suit could be a letter from the regulatory agency or a neighboring property owner demanding a response to identified environmental contamination. In other states, the courts have determined that the insurers must only defend an actual lawsuit.

‘OK’, you might ask, ‘that sounds great, but what if I can’t find my old policies or policies that were bought by the former owners?’ Well, those old policies can still be found. While there is no guarantee, contacting an expert insurance archeologist increases your chances of finding old policies or evidence of old policies. PolicyFind, a division of EnviroForensics, boasts an 85% success rate at finding old insurance policies or evidence of old policies.

USING YOUR POLICIES FOR DEFENSE AND INDEMNIFICATION

After finding the old policies, it is then critical that you know how to use these policies to your benefit. Insurance law is different from state to state and not every state has good law for the policyholder. Insurance policies contain different language which can vary by carrier and by policy period.

In pulling this concept together:

• A defense includes paying for lawyers dealing with the environmental contamination. A defense would also include quantifying an individual or business’ exposure and liability. The only way to quantify environmental liability is to collect environmental samples (e.g. soil, soil gas, indoor vapor, groundwater). It would also mean determining how expensive a cleanup would be, which means that, aquifer tests, feasibility studies and remediation technology evaluation should be covered.
• Indemnification is the process where the insurer brings the insured back to where they were before the damages occurred, as stipulated within the insuring agreement. In other words, indemnification makes the insured ‘whole’ again by paying for damages or losses already sustained and expenses already incurred.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF YOUR CGL POLICIES

Historical insurance policies can be beneficial in providing coverage for a number of different situations. For example:

• Plumbing and building supply companies defending product liability claims from exposure to products sold containing asbestos.
• Municipalities involved in litigation.
• Manufacturers of pumps defending product liability claims from exposure to asbestos gaskets.
• Churches and schools defending personal injury claims.
• Dry cleaners defending against environmental property damage claims brought by neighboring business property owners.
• Business property owners defending property damage claims by state environmental authorities.
• Insurance companies defending policyholders against environmental property damage claims and wishing to document insurance coverage of other potentially responsible parties.
• Real estate developers, environmental consultants, attorneys and regulatory agencies.

WHAT YOU CAN USE CGL POLICIES TO FUND

The process of using old insurance policies has many parts. There may be an insurance archeology component, a legal component and an environmental component and they all have to work together. Understanding all aspects of the process is not your job, that’s why you hire experts to uncover your insurance assets.

EnviroForensics and PolicyFind have successfully used the historical insurance of businesses, individuals and even defunct and bankrupt companies as sources of funding to pay for the investigation and cleanup of contaminated sites.

There are billions of dollars in unclaimed assets available to parties looking to defend environmental claims and personal injury claims. PolicyFind works diligently every day to put the power of the policy back in the policyholder’s hands – where it belongs.

Call PolicyFind’s insurance archeology experts today at 866-888-7911 or fill out our form.

PolicyFind clients commonly face immense challenges and deadlines, and they rely on our strengths to provide solutions for them. Our team understands the unique set of circumstances that businesses face when liabilities from past business operations arise. With our help, they can overcome their inevitable feelings of anxiety, powerlessness, and uncertainty.

Kristen Drake brings more than a decade of research and managerial experience in broadcast journalism to the field of insurance archeology. Since joining the PolicyFind team in 2015, Mrs. Drake has successfully documented liability insurance programs on behalf of municipalities, manufacturers and dry cleaners. She continues to translate her expertise in source procurement and digital fact-finding, performing insurance research activities at a very high level, providing on-time execution of contracted performance goals.