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 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.

Union Oil Company of California operated gasoline service stations throughout the Pacific Northwest well before 1986, and this station's confirmed petroleum contamination in groundwater and ongoing remediation obligations trace to that era of operations. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to Unocal — and potentially to successor operators — during the pre-1986 window carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The corrective-action costs being incurred at this site, and those yet to come as cleanup continues, represent expenditures the historical carriers may be obligated both to recover and to fund going forward.

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.