This property has a documented history as a bulk fuel distribution terminal going back to 1926. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
McAllister Flying Service operated as a flight school at Yakima Airport from 1926 through 1999, maintaining ten underground storage tanks of aviation and jet fuel to serve its aircraft. Cleanup under Ecology's Standard Cleanup program included the excavation and removal of 28 tanks between 1995 and 1998, removal of approximately 250 cubic yards of petroleum-impacted soil, a multi-year remedial investigation, and supplemental groundwater monitoring conducted through 2009–2010. The site has 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.
Aviation fuel storage and dispensing at this property began six decades before 1986, spanning an era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented remediation costs — tank removals across multiple phases, soil excavation, years of investigation and groundwater monitoring, and Ecology oversight charges — all trace to petroleum releases from USTs installed and operated during that pre-1986 policy window. Historical carriers who covered the flight school's operations during those decades may still be obligated to recover those 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.
