This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1944. 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.

Gasoline service operations at this property date to 1944 — more than four decades before 1986, the year occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies ceased reliably covering pollution claims. The underground storage tanks installed in 1969 and 1975 leaked petroleum hydrocarbons and benzene into groundwater during an era when CGL policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. The documented remediation costs — tank removal, site assessment, and cleanup to a No Further Action standard — represent expenditures that historical carriers who insured the station during those pre-1986 decades may still be obligated to cover.

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.