This property has a documented history as a dry cleaning facility going back to 1961. 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.

The perchloroethylene contamination documented in soil, groundwater, and soil vapor at this property originated from dry cleaning operations that began in the early 1960s — more than two decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies remained in wide use and carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented remediation costs here — two major soil excavation campaigns totaling thousands of cubic yards, years of vapor extraction, infrastructure replacement, and more than two decades of groundwater monitoring — trace directly to that pre-1986 operational period. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the dry cleaning operator during that window may be obligated to recover costs already incurred and to fund the cleanup work still underway.

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.