This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1930. 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.

Petroleum contamination at this site originated from underground storage tanks that were installed and operated beginning in the 1930s — more than five decades before occurrence-based CGL policies gave way to claims-made forms with absolute pollution exclusions in 1986. The documented remediation expenditures already incurred — UST removals, large-scale soil excavation, air sparging, vapor mitigation, and years of groundwater monitoring — along with the substantial future cleanup costs still ahead, represent the type of long-tail environmental liability that pre-1986 occurrence-based policies were written to cover. Historical carriers who provided CGL coverage during those decades of fueling operations may be obligated both to reimburse past cleanup costs and to fund the remediation work that remains.

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.