This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1964. 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.

Contamination at this site — petroleum hydrocarbons and lead consistent with decades of leaded gasoline storage — originated from fueling operations that began twenty-two years before 1986, when occurrence-based CGL policies were standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. More than three decades of documented remediation expenditures — tank removals, large-scale soil excavation, twelve years of vapor extraction, sulfate injection, and continuous groundwater monitoring — were incurred to address releases tied directly to those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during that window may be obligated both to recover past cleanup costs and to fund the remediation work that continues today.

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.