This property has a documented history as a dry cleaning facility 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.

A subsurface DNAPL plume requiring thermal treatment of 340 tons of soil, an expanded vapor extraction system, and in-situ chemical oxidation does not accumulate from a brief operational history — the scale of contamination at this Olympia strip mall implies PCE releases that began well before 1986. Carriers who issued occurrence-based CGL policies to this facility's dry cleaning operators during those years cannot disclaim coverage on the basis of pollution exclusions that had not yet been written into those forms. With remediation projected through 2025–2026 and DNAPL still present, both the documented costs incurred to date and the cleanup work still ahead may be recoverable from those historical policies.

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.