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 recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This Mercer Island property operated as a Shell gasoline service station with underground storage tanks that were identified on the state's Leaking Underground Storage Tank List. In 1994, the USTs were decommissioned and contaminated soils were excavated and removed under the Voluntary Cleanup Program. Groundwater monitoring continued for approximately 14 years following the soil remediation, running through at least October 2008, after which the site received a No Further Action determination. That history could support an insurance cost recovery claim against carriers who issued insurance policies 40+ years ago.
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 petroleum contamination at this property — gasoline-range hydrocarbons and BTEX — resulted from leaking underground storage tanks that were in service well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented cleanup expenditures here — tank decommissioning, soil excavation, and over a decade of groundwater monitoring — are costs tied directly to releases from those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who provided CGL coverage to Shell during the tanks' operational years may still be obligated to reimburse those remediation costs.
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.
Recovering Costs from an Older Cleanup
If this site reached No Further Action years ago, the original cleanup expenditures may be difficult to reconstruct. Restorical's forensic accounting team specializes in re-establishing and documenting past cleanup costs — even decades later — to build the strongest possible basis for an insurance recovery claim.
What We Look For
- Historical insurance policies (pre-1986)
- Policy numbers, carrier names, and coverage periods
- Connection between contamination timing and policy period
- Evidence linking cleanup obligation to insured activity
What We Deliver
- Historical Coverage Chart
- Trigger Analysis & Property/Policy Nexus
- Coverage strategy with recommendations
- Insurance funding for your remediation
- Claims Management & Forensic Accounting
The Restorical Proven Process
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Contact UsThis analysis is preliminary and based on publicly available records. Restorical Research is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
