This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1923. 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.

Every year of active gas station operations at this property — from 1923 through the facility's closure in 1978 — falls entirely within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies covered pollution events without effective exclusions. The soil contamination identified here is directly attributed to those historical tank-system releases, not to any recent incident. The planned soil vapor extraction system and the long-term monitoring it will require represent costs that historical carriers who issued CGL policies across those five-plus decades of operations may be obligated both to recover and to fund going forward.

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.