This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1983. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as Brewer's Store and Gasoline Station (later known as Brewer's Exxon), with three gasoline and one diesel underground storage tank serving retail fuel sales. Cleanup activities under the Voluntary Cleanup Program spanned from 1998 through 2009, including groundwater monitoring in 1998–1999, decommissioning and removal of all four USTs in 2008, soil over-excavation, and off-site disposal of 115.71 tons of petroleum-contaminated soil. The site has received a No Further Action determination from 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 tanks removed from this property in 2008 were consistent with installations predating 1986, placing their operational life squarely within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. More than a decade of documented remediation expenditures — tank removals, contaminated soil excavation and disposal, and multi-year groundwater monitoring — were incurred to address petroleum releases tied to those long-running fueling operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the pre-1986 operational window may still be obligated to recover those cleanup 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.