This property has a documented history as a public works and maintenance facility going back to 1973. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Mason County Fire District No. 5 Station 1, a county-operated volunteer fire station in Allyn, stored motor fuel for its vehicle fleet in two underground storage tanks — one 300-gallon gasoline tank and one 300-gallon diesel tank — beneath a concrete pad near the station building. The gasoline tank was installed in 1973 and stored leaded gasoline; both tanks were removed in 1994, at which point soil contamination was identified. Cleanup at Station 1 included UST removal, excavation of 30 cubic yards of contaminated soil treated off-site via landfarming, and multi-year groundwater monitoring, culminating in a No Further Action determination in 2012. 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 gasoline UST at Mason County Fire District No. 5 Station 1 was installed in 1973 and stored leaded gasoline — placing the contamination's origin squarely in the era when occurrence-based CGL policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. The remediation costs the fire district incurred — UST removal, soil excavation and off-site treatment, and years of groundwater monitoring — were tied directly to releases from those pre-1986 fueling operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL coverage to Mason County Fire District No. 5 during that operational window may still be obligated to recover those documented cleanup expenditures.
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.
