This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1938. 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 contamination at this site traces to fuel storage and distribution operations that began nearly five decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The operators who ran gasoline stations and fuel businesses here from the late 1930s through the mid-1980s were insured under precisely the policies that cover this type of long-duration release. Decades of documented remediation costs — tank removals, excavation, investigation, and ongoing site management — represent expenditures that historical carriers may be obligated to reimburse, and with cleanup still in progress, future remediation costs may fall within those same policy obligations.

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.