This property has a documented history as a property with a heating oil tank going back to 1948. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
This property, developed in 1917, housed underground storage tanks installed in the late 1940s to early 1950s, including a 2,000-gallon heating oil tank that served the building's boiler. A split weld in the heating oil tank released diesel and oil-range hydrocarbons at concentrations up to 18,000 ppm, producing free-phase product observed in four monitoring wells. Remediation beginning in 1993 included UST removal, excavation of contaminated soil, recovery of 600 gallons of heating oil from the tanks, and a multi-year groundwater remediation program running through 1999 that employed manual bailing, passive skimmer pumps, an extraction well system, and in-situ bioremediation. Cleanup work is ongoing. 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 contamination at this site traces to a heating oil tank installed decades before 1986 and operated through 1978 — squarely within the era when occurrence-based CGL policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. More than six years of documented remediation expenditures — tank removal, soil excavation, free-product recovery, and pump-and-treat operations — were incurred to address releases from that pre-1986 infrastructure. Historical carriers who issued policies during the tank's operational life may be obligated to recover those past costs and to fund any remaining cleanup obligations.
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.