This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station predating 1986. 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.

Lead contamination in the groundwater at this site is a chemical fingerprint of leaded gasoline — a product phased out of commercial sale before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The decades-long remediation effort here — product recovery, groundwater purging, monitoring, and cleanup planning — represents a substantial and still-growing cost trail tied directly to releases that began during that pre-1986 policy window. Historical carriers who covered the facility's operators during the leaded-gasoline era may be obligated both to reimburse past remediation expenditures and to fund the cleanup work that remains ahead.

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.