This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station predating 1986. 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 presence of lead in groundwater at this former service station is a signature of the leaded-gasoline era, placing the origin of contamination squarely before 1986 — when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. Two decades of documented remediation expenditures — vapor extraction, long-term groundwater monitoring, and VCP-supervised cleanup — represent costs tied to that historical release. Historical carriers who covered the station's operations during the pre-1986 window may be obligated both to recover those past expenditures and to fund the additional cleanup work the site still requires.

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.