This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1924. 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.

Petroleum contamination at this site originated from underground storage tanks and product lines serving a gas station that operated for nearly seven decades before 1986, squarely within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The scale of documented remediation — tens of thousands of tons of soil removed, free-product recovery, vapor mitigation, and decades of mandated monitoring — represents substantial expenditures that historical carriers who insured operations during the 1924-to-1986 window may be obligated both to reimburse and to fund as cleanup 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.