This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1930. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property has been in operation since at least the 1930s, with motor fuel storage and dispensing infrastructure — including two 1,000-gallon underground gasoline storage tanks and an aboveground diesel tank — used to fuel company vehicles. A gasoline release attributed to an improperly tightened dispenser fitting led to soil and groundwater contamination. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program ran from 1993 through a no further action determination in 2020 and included excavation and offsite disposal of over 3,100 cubic yards of contaminated soil, removal of both USTs, groundwater dewatering with oil-water separation and filtration, and passive bioremediation. 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.
Petroleum storage and dispensing operations at this site date to decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The contamination that triggered nearly three decades of remediation — soil excavation, tank removal, groundwater treatment, bioremediation — originated from fuel infrastructure installed and operated during that pre-1986 coverage window. Historical carriers who wrote CGL policies for operations at this property may still be obligated to recover the cleanup costs incurred to reach the site's no further action status.
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.