This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1940. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as a gasoline service station and feed store from the early 1940s through 1988, with four underground storage tanks — two 2,000-gallon, one 850-gallon, and one 550-gallon — dispensing regular and unleaded gasoline on site. The USTs were removed in 1989, revealing gasoline contamination and free product in soil and groundwater attributed to corrosion-related leakage. Remediation under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included proposed soil vapor extraction, air sparging, and free product recovery, with estimated cleanup costs between $100,000 and $300,000. A Final Cleanup Report was submitted and the site received a No Further Action determination from Ecology. 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.
Petroleum contamination at this property originated from underground storage tanks installed and operated continuously from the early 1940s — more than four decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented remediation expenditures for UST removal, soil and groundwater cleanup, and multi-year in-situ treatment trace directly to releases from those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the operators during that window may still be obligated to recover those cleanup 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.