This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1966. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property 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 underground storage tanks removed in 1991 were consistent with installations dating to the mid-1960s, placing the origin of petroleum contamination — TPH as gasoline and BTEX compounds in soil and groundwater — squarely within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion. More than two decades of documented remediation expenditures have already been incurred to address releases tied to those pre-1986 operations, and additional monitoring and remedial work remains ahead. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the decades these tanks were in service may be obligated both to recover past cleanup costs and to fund the remediation still to come.

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.