This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1954. 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 underground storage tanks at this property were installed and in active use from 1954 through 1965 — more than two decades before the 1986 threshold after which occurrence-based CGL policies began incorporating effective pollution exclusions. Ecology has formally attributed the petroleum hydrocarbon and benzene contamination here to those historical UST operations, establishing a direct regulatory link between the pre-1986 activity and the current remediation obligation. The documented cost trail — large-scale soil excavation, tank removals, tens of thousands of gallons of impacted groundwater recovered, and multi-year monitoring — represents expenditures that historical carriers whose policies were in force during the 1954–1965 operational window may be obligated to both recover and 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.