This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Three underground storage tanks were removed from this Bellingham property in 1991, with associated soil sampling and stockpiling of petroleum-contaminated soil confirming TPH and BTEX contamination in both soil and groundwater. The site was remediated independently under the Standard Cleanup program, achieving Method A Cleanup standards under MTCA. A No Further Action determination was issued in 2012, closing a remediation effort that spanned more than two decades. 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 gas USTs removed in 1991 are consistent with a fuel dispensing operation established well before 1986 — the period when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were the industry standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The petroleum hydrocarbon contamination documented here, TPH and BTEX in soil and groundwater, is the type of gradual release from long-running UST operations that those pre-1986 policies were written to address. The more than twenty years of documented remediation costs associated with this site represent expenditures that historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the operational window may be obligated to recover.
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.
