This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1969. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property 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.

Petroleum contamination at this site — including gasoline-range hydrocarbons, BTEX compounds, and lead indicative of historical leaded gasoline operations — originated from fueling infrastructure installed and operated continuously since 1969, nearly two decades before the 1986 cutoff for occurrence-based CGL coverage. The documented remediation expenditures already span more than fifteen years of groundwater monitoring, well installation, subsurface investigation, and active carbon treatment, with cleanup still underway. Historical carriers who wrote CGL policies covering this station during its pre-1986 operational window may be obligated both to reimburse past cleanup costs and to fund the remediation work that remains.

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.