This property has a documented history as a dry cleaning facility going back to 1960. 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.

Dry cleaning operations at this site ran for seventeen years entirely before 1986, the year occurrence-based CGL policies stopped reliably covering pollution claims. The PCE contamination that drove over a decade of remediation — soil excavation, vapor extraction, and long-term monitoring — traces directly to those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the dry cleaning operators between 1960 and 1977 may be obligated to reimburse the documented cleanup expenditures incurred to address contamination their policies were written to cover.

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.