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.

Petroleum operations at this property date to the mid-1940s, with a gasoline lawsuit alleging contamination from operations as early as 1946 — placing decades of fuel storage and dispensing squarely within the era of occurrence-based CGL policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion. The documented remediation expenditures already incurred — tank removals, large-scale soil excavation, demolition — together with the proposed vapor extraction, bioremediation, and long-term monitoring still ahead represent substantial cleanup costs tied directly to those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during that operational window may be obligated both to recover costs already spent and to fund the remediation 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.