This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station 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 here — petroleum hydrocarbons, BTEX, and lead traceable to leaded gasoline — originated from underground storage tank operations that were active before 1986, the period when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. Lead contamination linked to leaded gasoline is a definitive pre-1986 marker, placing the site's contamination origin squarely within the coverage window of those historical policies. Documented remediation costs from tank removals, in-place closures, and soil excavation represent expenditures the historical carriers may be obligated to recover, and the projected groundwater monitoring and natural-attenuation work ahead represents future costs they may be required to fund.

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.