This property has a documented history as a bulk fuel distribution terminal going back to 1931. 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 originated from bulk fuel storage and distribution operations that ran for more than five decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were still standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. The scale of remediation here — thousands of tons of excavated soil, tens of thousands of gallons of extracted groundwater, decades of monitoring, and ongoing institutional controls — reflects costs tied directly to the pre-1986 operational period of the Fletcher Oil terminal. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the terminal operator or property owner during that long pre-1986 window may be obligated both to fund the cleanup work already completed and to cover the remediation still under way.

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.