This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station 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 detection of lead in soil at this site is a direct indicator that the fueling operation dispensed leaded gasoline — a product phased out before 1986 — placing the contamination-generating activity within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented petroleum contamination from USTs and dispenser islands, now the subject of active DPE remediation and long-running groundwater monitoring, represents both historical cleanup expenditures and forward-looking remediation costs that carriers who issued CGL policies during the leaded-fuel era may be obligated to fund.

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.