This property operated as a Chevron gasoline station (Station #3068), with underground storage tanks and pump islands supporting retail fuel sales. USTs at the site were decommissioned in 1991, followed by full UST removal and remedial soil excavation in 2003 under the Voluntary Cleanup Program. Soil sampling, monitoring well installation, and remediation oversight continued through the project's conclusion, with independent remedial action reports completed in 2004 and 2006. The site has since been redeveloped as the Broadway & Pine Apartments and 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.
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 property originated from underground storage tanks that were in service well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were the industry standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. The documented remediation costs — UST decommissioning, tank removal, remedial excavation, soil sampling, monitoring well installation, and multi-year oversight through 2006 — were incurred to address releases tied directly to those pre-1986 fueling operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the station's operating years may still be obligated to recover those cleanup expenditures.
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.