This property has a documented history as a dry cleaning facility 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 presence of PCE alongside its full chlorinated degradation sequence — TCE, cis-DCE, and vinyl chloride — is characteristic of dry cleaning operations that predate 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented history of investigations and remediation actions at this plaza, including source-area excavation, groundwater treatment, and continuing discharge monitoring, represents accumulated cleanup expenditures traceable to a release from that pre-1986 operational period. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies while the dry cleaner was in operation may be obligated both to recover those documented 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.