This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.

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 underground storage tanks removed from this property in 1989 were original equipment very likely installed well before 1986, placing the contamination's origin squarely within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion. The petroleum release that triggered investigation and cleanup — benzene and gasoline-range hydrocarbons in groundwater — is directly attributable to those pre-1986 tank operations. Historical carriers who insured this facility during that operational window may bear obligation for the remediation costs incurred over the more than two decades between the 1989 release and the 2011 closure.

Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful cost recovery claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage for costs already incurred. Restorical's forensic accounting team works to re-establish and document past cleanup expenditures, ensuring the strongest possible basis for recovery.