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 Eakin Fruit Company property in Union Gap housed a 1,000-gallon underground heating fuel tank that served a building constructed before 1963; the tank developed holes and released diesel contamination into the surrounding soil and groundwater. Cleanup under the Standard Cleanup program included excavation and removal of the UST together with 248 cubic yards of diesel-contaminated soil, biological treatment applied to both the impacted groundwater and remaining contaminated soil within the excavation, and a one-year quarterly groundwater monitoring program conducted through four installed wells. The site has since 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 heating fuel tank responsible for the contamination here served a building constructed before 1963, placing its installation and decades of operation squarely within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. A leaking UST releasing diesel into soil and groundwater is precisely the type of slow, subsurface discharge those pre-1986 policies were written to address. The documented remediation costs — tank removal, soil excavation, biological treatment, and a year of quarterly groundwater monitoring — are expenditures that historical carriers who issued CGL policies to Eakin Fruit Company during that pre-1986 operational window may still 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.
