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 petroleum contamination at this property traces directly to gasoline dispensing operations that began in the mid-1960s — decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. A site investigation has explicitly ruled out a neighboring early-1990s release as a contributing source, anchoring the contamination squarely within the pre-1986 operational window. The documented remediation costs here — UST removals, removal of more than 1,600 tons of impacted soil, a subsurface containment wall, and an active groundwater recovery system — represent expenditures tied directly to those historical operations, and the carriers who issued CGL policies during that window may be obligated both to recover past costs and to fund the cleanup work that remains.

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.