This property has a documented history as a property with a heating oil tank going back to 1928. 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 heating oil infrastructure at this property — furnaces and USTs documented in service by 1965 — was in active use for at least two decades before 1986, when occurrence-based CGL policies ceased to reliably cover pollution claims. The contamination here is the product of prolonged heating oil releases from those pre-1986 installations, not a discrete incident, and the remediation costs already incurred — removal of over 1,630 tons of impacted soil across two excavation phases, UST extraction, and multi-year groundwater management — are precisely the category of expenditure that historical carriers may be obligated 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.