This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1940. 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 petroleum contamination at this property traces to underground storage tanks installed and operated during a gasoline station that functioned for decades before 1986 — the year occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies ceased to be the industry standard and began including effective pollution exclusions. Structural failure of those aged tanks, not a discrete accident, is the identified release mechanism, which is precisely the type of slow, long-tail contamination that pre-1986 CGL policies were written to cover. The documented remediation costs here — UST excavation, large-scale soil disposal, groundwater treatment, and asbestos abatement — are tied directly to those historical operations, and historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the station's operating years may be obligated both to recover those expenditures and to fund the cleanup work still ahead.

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.