This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1971. 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.

Petroleum releases at this site were documented as early as 1983, during the years ExxonMobil operated fueling USTs here under occurrence-based CGL policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The contamination from those underground tanks — concentrated near the dispenser islands and UST basin and affecting both soil and groundwater — is precisely the kind of slow, incremental release the pre-1986 policy language was written to address. The site's documented remediation record — UST removals, soil excavation, vapor extraction, groundwater treatment, and years of follow-on monitoring — represents expenditures that historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the station operator from 1971 onward 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.