This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1902. 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 storage operations at this property began in the early twentieth century and continued through industrial uses that predate 1986 by decades, placing the contamination origin squarely within the era when occurrence-based CGL policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. With active groundwater monitoring underway and cleanup still in progress, the remediation cost trail — UST removal, monitoring well operation, purge water disposal — represents expenditures that historical carriers who wrote policies during those pre-1986 operational windows 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.