This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1975. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property has operated as an ARCO gasoline service station since at least 1975, with multiple underground storage tanks dispensing gasoline for retail sale. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included removal of USTs totaling 28,250 gallons of capacity, excavation of 500 cubic yards and 179 tons of impacted soil, and operation of a Soil Vapor Extraction system from 1993 to 1995 that recovered 3,000 pounds of hydrocarbons. Groundwater monitoring and natural attenuation have continued since 2001, and the site has reached No Further Action status. 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 petroleum contamination at this Bellevue property — gasoline-range hydrocarbons, BTEX, and lead in groundwater — originated from underground storage tanks and piping that were in service decades before 1986, including first-generation USTs consistent with installation well before that cutoff. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to operators during that pre-1986 window carried no effective pollution exclusion and remain enforceable today. The documented remediation costs here — tank removals, soil excavation, vapor extraction, and more than two decades of groundwater monitoring — are the kind of expenditures those historical carriers may be obligated to recover.
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.
