This property has a documented history as a bulk fuel distribution terminal predating 1986. 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.

The contamination at this Burlington bulk plant originated from bulk fuel storage, distribution, and retail gasoline operations that predated 1986, the year occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies effectively stopped covering pollution releases. Large-scale petroleum handling of the kind conducted at a bulk transfer facility is precisely the source of slow, subsurface contamination that pre-1986 CGL policies — issued without an effective pollution exclusion — were written to address. The documented remediation costs here — excavation, vapor extraction, and nearly two decades of monitoring — represent expenditures the historical carriers whose policies were in force during those pre-1986 operations 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.