This property has a documented history as a property with a heating oil tank 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.

Lead contamination documented in both soil and groundwater at this property is a definitive indicator of operations during the leaded gasoline era — confirming that the USTs here were active well before 1986, the threshold year for occurrence-based CGL policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion. The remediation expenditures incurred to date — formal UST closure, trench installation, multiple rounds of in-situ bioremediation, and sustained groundwater monitoring — are directly traceable to releases from those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the care facility or earlier operators during that window may be obligated to fund both the costs already incurred and the cleanup work still underway.

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.