This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1965. 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.

The gasoline releases at this site originated from underground storage tanks installed and operated beginning in 1964 — more than two decades before occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies gave way to claims-made forms with pollution exclusions. The scale of documented remediation expenditures here is substantial: multiple UST removals, large-volume soil excavation, over a million gallons of groundwater treated, and years of vapor extraction and monitoring under an ongoing cleanup. Historical carriers who wrote CGL policies covering this station during its first two decades of operation may be obligated both to recover costs already incurred 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.