This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1970. 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 gasoline station's underground storage tanks were installed in 1970 and 1974 — more than a decade before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were still standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. Petroleum and benzene contamination detected in groundwater at this site is characteristic of the slow, cumulative releases those pre-1986 policies were designed to cover. The full arc of remediation expenditures — tank decommissioning, investigation, and cleanup through the Voluntary Cleanup Program — represents costs that historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the 1970s and early 1980s may still be obligated to recover.

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.