This property has a documented history as a automobile dealership going back to 1930. 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 gasoline and benzene contamination at this property traces directly to underground storage tanks installed in 1930 — more than five decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion. Carriers who issued CGL policies to operators of this dealership and service area during that pre-1986 window may be obligated both to recover the tank-decommissioning costs already incurred and to fund the soil remediation work that remains ahead. A property with documented contamination of this age and a multi-year cleanup trajectory is precisely the fact pattern those historical policies were written to address.

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.