This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1970. 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.

Fuel dispensing operations at this site began in 1970 — sixteen years before occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies gave way to claims-made forms with absolute pollution exclusions. The gasoline leak near the pump island and UST basin is precisely the kind of gradual, operations-linked release that pre-1986 CGL policies were structured to cover in Washington. Documented remediation expenditures — vapor extraction, free product recovery, years of groundwater monitoring — represent costs that historical carriers who wrote policies during those early decades of operation may still be obligated to reimburse and to fund as cleanup continues.

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.