This property has a documented history as a auto body / repair shop going back to 1926. 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.

Contamination at this site — petroleum hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents, lead, and paint-solvent compounds — traces to automotive fueling and body-shop operations that began roughly sixty years before 1986, when occurrence-based CGL policies ceased reliably covering pollution claims in Washington. The scale of documented remediation expenditures here — tens of thousands of tons of soil removed, multi-phase groundwater treatment, long-term monitoring — represents costs that historical carriers who insured these operations during the pre-1986 window may be obligated both to reimburse and to fund through completion of cleanup.

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.