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 fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
This property operated as a retail gasoline station under the Texaco and Gull brands, with three underground storage tanks that were decommissioned and removed in June–July 1999. Contaminated subsurface soils and shallow groundwater containing gasoline, benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and total xylenes were discovered during those removal activities. Remediation has included a soil vapor extraction and air sparging system active from at least 2000 through at least 2014 — treating extracted vapors with granular activated carbon — and the site surface has been fully capped with asphalt and concrete. Cleanup remains ongoing under the Standard Cleanup program. 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 BTEX contamination at this Spokane station originated from underground storage tanks installed and operated years before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were still the industry standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. A slow, ongoing release of petroleum hydrocarbons into soil and groundwater is precisely the loss scenario those pre-1986 policies were written to address. The documented remediation expenditures here — UST removal, years of vapor extraction and air sparging, granular activated carbon treatment, and full-site capping — represent costs that historical carriers whose policies were in force during those earlier decades of operation may be obligated both to recover and to fund going forward.
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.
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.
