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 fund a cleanup.
This property operated as a fuel-dispensing station under the Gull 248 and Ferndale Express Lane names, with underground storage tanks including two 8,000-gallon USTs and one 10,000-gallon UST serving pump islands on site. A 2016 UST compliance inspection identified a leaking underground storage tank, and soil and groundwater contamination — gasoline-range petroleum hydrocarbons, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, and lead — has been confirmed to exceed MTCA cleanup levels. The site is enrolled in the Voluntary Cleanup Program and is awaiting cleanup; no remediation work has commenced. 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 presence of lead contamination in both soil and groundwater alongside petroleum hydrocarbons is a definitive indicator of historical leaded gasoline sales, a practice that largely ceased before 1986 when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were still the industry standard. Those pre-1986 CGL policies contained no effective pollution exclusion and were written to cover exactly this type of slow, ongoing subsurface release from fuel-dispensing operations. The remediation costs this property now faces — investigation, cleanup design, and eventual soil and groundwater remediation — could plausibly be funded by historical carriers whose policies were in force when the contamination originated.
Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful coverage claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage. Restorical then manages the claim, including accounting, to ensure the cleanup is funded in a timely manner.
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.