This property has a documented history as a dry cleaning facility going back to 1950. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property was a former strip mall in Kirkland that housed two gas stations, auto repair facilities, and two dry cleaning operations, with development and operations dating to the 1950s and 1960s. The dry cleaning operations, which used tetrachloroethylene (PCE), caused significant groundwater contamination at two locations on the site; petroleum contamination from the former underground storage tanks was minor and localized by comparison. Cleanup under the Standard Cleanup Program spanned more than 12 years and included tank and soil excavation with off-site thermal treatment, groundwater remediation through air sparging, density-driven convection wells, natural attenuation, and underground injection, as well as soil vapor extraction that recovered 231 pounds of PCE. The site has reached 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 PCE contamination that drove more than a decade of active remediation at this site originated from dry cleaning operations that began in the 1950s — well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington State. The scale of the cleanup — thermal treatment, air sparging, convection wells, soil vapor extraction, and extensive long-term compliance monitoring — reflects the severity of a release tied directly to those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the dry cleaning operators during that window may still bear an obligation to recover the documented 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.
