This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1934. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property hosted two successive gasoline stations from 1934 to 1946 and again from 1949 to 1969, with multiple underground storage tanks and pump islands dispensing gasoline on what is now a hotel parking lot. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included the removal of those USTs and associated piping, excavation and off-site thermal treatment of approximately 490 tons of petroleum-contaminated soil, groundwater recovery through pumping from excavations and monitoring wells with off-site disposal, and a multi-year natural attenuation monitoring program running from 2001 through 2003. A restrictive covenant was recorded as an institutional control, and the site has since reached No Further Action status. 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 contamination documented here — TPH-G and BTEX in soil and groundwater — traces directly to tank-and-dispenser operations that ran from 1934 through 1969, spanning more than three decades before occurrence-based CGL policies began incorporating effective pollution exclusions in 1986. Every documented remediation expenditure at this property — UST removals, thermal soil treatment, groundwater extraction, long-term monitoring, and the institutional control filing — was incurred to address releases tied to those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the gasoline station operators during that extended window may still bear an obligation 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.
