This property has a documented history as a automobile dealership going back to 1964. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.

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.

Petroleum contamination at this property traces directly to dealership service operations — hydraulic hoists and waste oil handling — that began around 1964, more than two decades before occurrence-based CGL policies stopped reliably covering pollution claims. Any carrier that insured Eastside Chrysler Jeep's service facility during those twenty-plus years of pre-1986 operations wrote coverage over the very activities that produced the 4,360 tons of contaminated soil and the groundwater plume now managed under a restrictive covenant. The documented remediation expenditures — large-scale excavation, thermal treatment, barrier wall construction, and a long-term monitoring program — represent costs those historical policies may be obligated to reimburse.

Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful cost recovery claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage for costs already incurred. Restorical's forensic accounting team works to re-establish and document past cleanup expenditures, ensuring the strongest possible basis for recovery.