This property has a documented history as a property with a heating oil tank predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This 0.41-acre commercial property in Poulsbo has housed commercial buildings since 1915 and was served by a 500-gallon diesel underground storage tank that leaked petroleum hydrocarbons into the surrounding soil. In 2007, the tank was removed and petroleum-contaminated soil was excavated; the site then underwent bioremediation through soil enzyme inoculation and natural attenuation of the groundwater. Multi-year monitoring of both soil and groundwater continued from 2007 through 2018 to confirm cleanup effectiveness, and the site has since received a No Further Action determination. 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 contamination at this property originated from an underground storage tank that, by the time of its 2007 decommissioning, had been in service for decades — consistent with an installation date well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still carried no effective pollution exclusion. The documented remediation expenditures here — tank removal, soil excavation, enzyme-based bioremediation, and eleven years of groundwater and soil monitoring — are precisely the category of costs those pre-1986 CGL policies were written to address. Historical carriers who issued policies during the tank's operational window may remain 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
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.
