This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1970. 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 releases from the Daily News USTs began during the 1970s and 1980s — squarely within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented remediation expenditures at this site — tank removal, large-scale soil excavation, groundwater recovery, two years of air sparging, and decades of monitoring — represent costs tied directly to operations conducted while those policies were in force. Because cleanup is still underway and an Environmental Covenant signals continuing obligations, historical carriers who insured the Daily News during the pre-1986 operational window may be obligated both to reimburse past 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.