This property has a documented history as a automobile dealership going back to 1964. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as the Tom Matson Dodge car dealership in Auburn, Washington, with a 1,000-gallon underground storage tank installed in 1964 to fuel vehicles on the lot. A gasoline release was identified in 1986, and the UST was removed in 1988 along with initial soil excavation and recovery of free-floating product from groundwater. Additional remedial excavation occurred in 2006, followed by in-situ treatment with BOS 200 injections in 2016 and 2017, installation of monitoring wells from 2015 through 2017, and quarterly groundwater monitoring through 2019 under the Voluntary Cleanup Program. The site has received a No Further Action determination. 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 gasoline contamination at this property originated from an underground storage tank installed in 1964 — more than two decades before occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies gave way to claims-made forms with absolute pollution exclusions. The release was identified in 1986, squarely within the window when pre-1986 CGL policies were in force and lacked an effective pollution exclusion under Washington law. Decades of documented remediation expenditures — UST removal, soil excavation, free-product recovery, chemical injections, and years of groundwater monitoring — represent costs that historical carriers who wrote policies during that 1964-to-1986 operational window may still be obligated to cover.
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.