This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1985. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as an Exxon retail gasoline station (No. 7-2832) with five underground storage tanks — four for gasoline and one for waste oil — installed in 1985, along with three pump islands. Cleanup under the Standard Cleanup program included hand-bailing and vacuum truck recovery of 2,300 gallons of liquid petroleum hydrocarbons and water from an observation well between October 1990 and September 1991. Five monitoring wells were installed and groundwater monitoring continued from 1990 through at least mid-1993. The site has received a No Further Action determination and currently operates as an ARCO station. 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 underground storage tanks at this site were installed in 1985 — squarely within the window when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination requiring multi-year recovery and monitoring originated from infrastructure placed during that pre-1986 coverage period. The documented remediation costs — liquid hydrocarbon recovery, well installation, and years of groundwater monitoring — represent expenditures that historical CGL carriers on the risk during tank installation and early operation may still be obligated to cover.
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.
