This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1944. 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.

Fuel dispensing operations at this site began more than four decades before 1986, the year occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies ceased reliably covering pollution claims in Washington. Gasoline, diesel, benzene, and oil contamination released from underground storage tanks installed and operated during that pre-1986 window is exactly the kind of long-tail environmental liability those policies were written to address. The documented remediation expenditures — tank removals, large-scale groundwater recovery, chemical injection, and years of monitoring — represent costs that historical carriers who issued CGL policies during those decades of fueling operations may be obligated both to reimburse 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.