This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1969. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property housed three diesel underground storage tanks with associated product lines and dispensers, estimated to have been installed around 1969 based on their 1994 removal date. All three USTs, product lines, and dispensers were removed in a single excavation in 1994, with approximately 20 cubic yards of petroleum-contaminated soil overexcavated and landfarmed on-site. Soil remediation achieved concentrations below MTCA Method A cleanup standards, and the site has received 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 diesel USTs at this property were installed and operated for approximately seventeen years before 1986, the year occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies stopped reliably covering pollution claims in Washington. The petroleum contamination discovered during the 1994 tank removal traces directly to those pre-1986 fueling operations — exactly the kind of long-duration release that occurrence-based CGL policies were written to cover. Historical carriers who issued policies during that seventeen-year pre-1986 operating window may still be obligated to recover the remediation costs incurred at this site.
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
Ready to learn more?
Contact UsThis analysis is preliminary and based on publicly available records. Restorical Research is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.
