This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1901. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup.
This property at 1007 First Avenue in Seattle has been in operation since 1901, with three gasoline underground storage tanks historically located beneath the adjacent Post Avenue and Spring Street rights-of-way. Evidence of one or more gasoline releases was identified in subsurface soils near two former UST locations. The tanks were confirmed removed and the pits backfilled — including with controlled-density fill — but affected soils were left in place, and no further remedial action for those soils has been documented. Two groundwater monitoring wells were installed in 2007, and the site remains in Ecology's Standard Cleanup program awaiting further action. 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.
Gasoline storage and dispensing at this downtown Seattle property dates to well before 1986, with USTs depicted on renovation plans as early as 1981 and the presence of lead contamination consistent with leaded-gasoline use from an even earlier era. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to the property's operators during those pre-1986 decades carried no effective pollution exclusion under Washington law. The cleanup costs this site still faces — soil remediation that has yet to be performed, ongoing monitoring — are the type of long-tail environmental liabilities those historical policies were written to cover, and the carriers who issued them may be obligated to fund that work.
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.
