This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property 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 explicit presence of leaded gasoline in the site's storage tanks places active fuel dispensing operations here before leaded gasoline was phased out in the mid-1980s, confirming the contamination origin falls within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion. The December 1990 discovery traced the release to ongoing inventory losses — a slow, continuous discharge of the kind those pre-1986 policies were written to cover. Thirty years of documented site characterization, soil remediation, and groundwater monitoring represent costs for which historical CGL carriers issued during those earlier operational years may remain obligated, with future remediation expenditures still potentially on the table.

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.