This property operated as Unocal Service Station 1806 at 2102 Hewitt Avenue in Everett, dispensing gasoline from underground storage tanks over a period spanning decades before closure. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included UST removal, soil overexcavation and remedial excavation of petroleum-impacted material, installation and multi-year operation of a Soil Vapor Extraction system, and extensive groundwater monitoring over more than a decade. The site has received a No Further Action determination from Ecology's Toxics Cleanup Program. That history could support an insurance cost recovery claim against carriers who issued insurance policies 40+ years ago.
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.
Petroleum contamination at this former service station originated from underground storage tanks that were in place well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were the industry standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The scope of documented remediation — tank removal, soil excavation, vapor extraction, and years of groundwater monitoring — represents substantial cleanup expenditures tied directly to releases from those pre-1986 fueling operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the station's operating years may still be obligated to recover those 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.
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.
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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.