This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1970. 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.

Gasoline-range petroleum contamination at this site originated from an underground storage tank that was installed and operated for roughly two decades before 1986, squarely within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented remediation expenditures — tank removal, large-scale soil excavation, eighteen months of on-site bioremediation, and still-pending removal of remaining UST infrastructure — represent costs that historical carriers who wrote CGL policies during the 1970–1986 operational window may be obligated both to reimburse and to fund through completion.

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.