This property has a documented history as a dry cleaning facility predating 1986. 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 contamination at this site originated from underground storage tanks serving dry cleaning operations that were demonstrably in place before their 1984 removal — well within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. Decades of site management costs — tank removal, investigation, groundwater evaluation, and the remediation still ahead — flow directly from releases tied to those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the period these tanks were in service may be obligated both to recover past cleanup expenditures 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.