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 contamination at this site — tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, cis-1,2-dichloroethene, and vinyl chloride — originated from dry cleaning operations that predate 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. Decades of remediation expenditures have already been incurred here, from tank removals and excavation to long-term groundwater monitoring and vapor mitigation testing, with natural attenuation treatment still underway. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the dry cleaner's operational window may be obligated both to recover those past costs and to fund the cleanup work that continues.

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.