This property has a documented history as a dry cleaning facility going back to 1961. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
The Gilman Square Shopping Center was built in approximately 1961 and hosted both a dry cleaning operation and a gas and service station throughout the 1960s and 1970s; the service station was demolished between 1977 and 1985. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program addressed contamination from both former operations: nearly 1,936,000 pounds of impacted soil were excavated, five underground storage tanks were removed, and multi-year groundwater dewatering combined with enhanced anaerobic bioremediation targeted chlorinated-solvent contamination in groundwater. Long-term groundwater monitoring ran from 2015 through 2017, after which the site received a No Further Action determination. That history could support an insurance cost recovery claim against carriers who issued insurance policies 40+ years ago.
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.
Both the dry cleaner and the gas station at Gilman Square operated for years before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The chlorinated-solvent contamination — the more pervasive of the two sources, requiring dewatering, enhanced anaerobic bioremediation, and years of monitoring to resolve — originated from dry cleaning operations that began at least two decades before that threshold. The documented remediation costs at this site, including the excavation of nearly two million pounds of contaminated soil, five UST removals, and multi-year groundwater treatment, represent expenditures that historical carriers whose CGL policies covered those pre-1986 operations may be obligated to recover.
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.
Recovering Costs from an Older Cleanup
If this site reached No Further Action years ago, the original cleanup expenditures may be difficult to reconstruct. Restorical's forensic accounting team specializes in re-establishing and documenting past cleanup costs — even decades later — to build the strongest possible basis for an insurance recovery claim.
What We Look For
- Historical insurance policies (pre-1986)
- Policy numbers, carrier names, and coverage periods
- Connection between contamination timing and policy period
- Evidence linking cleanup obligation to insured activity
What We Deliver
- Historical Coverage Chart
- Trigger Analysis & Property/Policy Nexus
- Coverage strategy with recommendations
- Insurance funding for your remediation
- Claims Management & Forensic Accounting
The Restorical Proven Process
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Contact UsThis analysis is preliminary and based on publicly available records. Restorical Research is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
