This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1965. 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.

Petroleum operations at this property predate 1965 — more than two decades before occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies gave way to claims-made forms with pollution exclusions in 1986. The contamination requiring remediation here — petroleum hydrocarbons migrating through groundwater far enough to require off-site monitoring wells — is the kind of gradual, long-duration release those earlier policies were designed to cover. Documented cleanup expenditures including UST removals, chemical oxidation treatment, and multi-year groundwater monitoring represent costs that historical carriers who wrote CGL coverage during the station's pre-1986 operating years may be obligated to reimburse.

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.