This property has a documented history as a dry cleaning facility going back to 1951. 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.

Contamination at the Capri Property originated from dry-cleaning operations that began in 1951 and ran through the mid-1960s — more than two decades before 1986, when occurrence-based CGL policies stopped reliably covering pollution claims in Washington. The scale of documented remediation here is substantial: nearly 300,000 tons of excavated soil, a multi-year pump-and-treat system, structural vapor-intrusion controls, and more than two decades of continuing monitoring. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the operators during the pre-1986 window may bear obligation for both costs already incurred and ongoing remediation expenditures.

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.