This property has a documented history as a property with a heating oil tank 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.

The extreme deterioration and long-term abandonment of this residential heating oil tank is consistent with an installation dating well before modern UST regulations took hold — and well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies began routinely incorporating effective pollution exclusions. Residential heating oil tanks of this era were in active service during precisely the years such policies were issued without those exclusions, meaning historical carriers may retain an obligation tied to the slow, ongoing release that caused this contamination. The documented remediation expenditures — UST removal, substantial soil excavation, groundwater extraction and treatment, and continuing monitoring — are the type of cleanup costs those pre-1986 policies were written to cover.

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.