This property has a documented history as a property with a heating oil tank predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
The Chastain Residence in Vancouver, Clark County, experienced a heating oil release from a 675-gallon underground storage tank that was decommissioned in July 2008 after corrosion caused a fuel release; soil sampling near the tank confirmed TPH-D concentrations reaching 13,800 mg/kg. Remediation under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included cleaning and filling the tank in place with a concrete mixture, followed by in-situ bioremediation from 2008 to 2010 — three separate microorganism applications delivered into nine boreholes, paired with compressed air injection to boost subsurface oxygen levels. The site subsequently 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 corrosion-driven release at this property is characteristic of a slow, cumulative discharge that built up over the operational life of the tank rather than from a discrete recent event — the kind of ongoing subsurface release that occurrence-based policies in force during pre-1986 policy years were written to cover. A tank decommissioned in 2008 due to corrosion is consistent with installation well before 1986, meaning homeowner or commercial general liability policies active during those years may have been triggered by contamination accumulating silently beneath the property. The documented remediation costs — tank decommissioning, three rounds of bioremediation, and multi-year regulatory oversight — represent expenditures that historical carriers whose policies were in effect during that operational window may be obligated to fund.
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.
