This property has a documented history as a property with a heating oil tank going back to 1970. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup.

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.

Commercial buildings constructed in the 1970s routinely relied on heating oil systems, and the 7-Eleven building's decade of pre-1986 operation places it squarely within the era when occurrence-based CGL policies were the industry standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The oil-range petroleum now detected in groundwater represents precisely the kind of slow subsurface release those policies were written to address. Investigation, remedial design, and cleanup costs the property now faces could plausibly be recovered from historical carriers whose policies were in force during the building's decades of pre-1986 operation.

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.