This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1948. 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.

Petroleum contamination at this property traces directly to underground storage tanks installed and operated during a fifty-year industrial run that began in 1948 — nearly four decades before occurrence-based CGL policies gave way to claims-made forms with absolute pollution exclusions. The documented remediation expenditures are substantial: large-scale soil excavation, bioremediation, thermal treatment, groundwater recovery, and long-term monitoring spanning 1994 to the present. Historical carriers who wrote CGL policies covering the facility during those pre-1986 decades may be obligated both to reimburse past cleanup costs and to fund the remediation work that remains ahead.

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.