This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1974. 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 at this property originated from underground storage tanks installed no later than the mid-1970s — more than a decade before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion. Slow leakage from those tanks into soil and groundwater is precisely the type of gradual release that pre-1986 CGL policies were written to address. The remediation expenditures recorded here — hundreds of tons of soil excavation, UST decommissioning, and years of groundwater monitoring — represent costs that historical carriers whose policies covered operations during that pre-1986 window may be obligated to recover 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.