This property has a documented history as a bulk fuel distribution terminal going back to 1965. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property 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 bulk plant traces to storage and distribution operations that were well established before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. The scope of documented remediation — tank removal, soil excavation, dual-phase extraction, product recovery, vapor extraction, and years of monitoring — represents substantial expenditures tied directly to releases from those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the facility's early decades of operation may be obligated both to reimburse past cleanup costs and to fund the remediation that continues today.

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.