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 recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property, home to the Hillel Foundation, housed an underground storage tank — consistent with a heating oil tank serving the building — that was decommissioned in 2003 following a petroleum hydrocarbon release into the soil. Independent remedial actions, including UST decommissioning and associated soil remediation, were conducted under the Voluntary Cleanup Program. Those activities were sufficient to earn a No Further Action determination from the Department of Ecology. 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 underground storage tank decommissioned here in 2003 was, by standard tank lifecycle estimates, installed well before 1986 — placing its years of active service within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. Heating oil USTs are a textbook source of the slow, ongoing subsurface releases those pre-1986 policies were written to cover. The investigation, remediation, and decommissioning costs incurred to resolve the contamination at this property may be recoverable from historical carriers whose CGL policies were in force during the tank's operational decades.
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.
