This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as the Shell Service Station at the southwest corner of 15th Avenue NW and NW 65th Street in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, with underground storage tanks whose leaks introduced petroleum hydrocarbon contamination recorded in Washington's Leaking Underground Storage Tank database. Independent remedial action was performed to address total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and BTEX compounds in soil, and groundwater sampling was conducted as part of the remediation effort. Ecology's Toxics Cleanup Program reviewed the Hart Crowser remediation reports and issued a no further action determination, closing out the site's regulatory record. 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 here originated from leaking underground storage tanks installed and operated before the major federal UST regulations of 1988 — placing the operational period in the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were the industry standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The independent soil remediation, groundwater sampling program, and multi-report Ecology review undertaken to reach a no further action determination all represent documented cleanup expenditures tied directly to that pre-1986 tank operation. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the station's operators during that operational window may still be obligated to recover those remediation costs.
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.
