This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1964. 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 documented here — TPH in soil, groundwater, and soil vapor — originated from gasoline service station operations that ran from 1964 through 1988, a span that falls almost entirely within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion. The documented remediation costs — UST removal, soil excavation, groundwater treatment, and installation of long-term mitigation infrastructure — are directly attributable to those pre-1986 operations at the Bellevue Plaza Property. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the service station operators during that window may remain obligated to recover past cleanup expenditures and to fund the monitoring and maintenance work still underway.

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.