This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1932. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup.

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.

Fueling operations at this site date back nearly a century, placing the contamination-generating activities decades before 1986 — the year occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies effectively stopped covering pollution claims. The gasoline, benzene, ethylbenzene, and xylene contamination detected here stems from the kind of slow, ongoing UST releases that pre-1986 CGL policies were written to address, with no indication of a discrete recent spill. The investigation and remediation costs now facing this property — site assessment, cleanup design, and active remediation yet to come — could plausibly be funded by historical carriers whose policies were in force during the decades this station was operating.

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.