This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1965. 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.

The contamination here — characterized in site documents as an "older, weathered gasoline release" — originated from fueling operations conducted between the mid-1960s and the late 1970s, more than a decade before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were the industry standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The fact that the USTs were unregistered and the release undocumented does not sever the coverage nexus: the contamination event ties directly to operations that pre-1986 CGL carriers insured. The documented remediation costs to date — thousands of tons of soil removed, a tank pulled, stormwater managed — and the unfinished investigation ahead represent expenditures that historical carriers may be obligated both to recover and to fund going forward.

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.