This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup.

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 small holes found in the Trager Company's heating oil UST point to a slow, ongoing release that developed over the tank's operational life — estimated to have begun at or before 1982, well within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability coverage. The gradual, long-running nature of that release is the precise loss pattern pre-1986 CGL policies were designed to cover, and carriers who issued such policies to the building's operators during that window had no effective pollution exclusion. Both the remediation costs already incurred in 2007 and the additional costs ahead to address the soil that could not be removed may be recoverable from those historical insurers.

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.