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 recover the cleanup costs already paid.

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 whose 2000 closure triggered this cleanup had been in the ground long enough — by standard tank lifecycle reckoning — to predate 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still lacked an effective pollution exclusion. Petroleum hydrocarbons and metals released from those tanks into soil, groundwater, and storm drain sediment are precisely the slow-release contamination that pre-1986 CGL policies were written to cover. Eight years of documented Voluntary Cleanup Program expenditures tied directly to those historical fueling operations may be recoverable from carriers whose policies were in force when the tanks were active.

Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful cost recovery claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage for costs already incurred. Restorical's forensic accounting team works to re-establish and document past cleanup expenditures, ensuring the strongest possible basis for recovery.