This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1940. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup.
Building 2 at this Port Orchard property operated as a gasoline sales and automotive service station from the early 1940s through the mid-1980s, with three approximately 2,000-gallon gasoline underground storage tanks, a former dispenser island, and an in-place hydraulic lift. Those gasoline USTs were closed in-place in the mid-1980s; a separate 800-gallon heating oil UST was physically removed in 2002, along with 25 tons of contaminated soil and 600 gallons of oily water. The property is now enrolled in the Voluntary Cleanup Program and is engaged in an independent remedial action with planned remedial investigation activities and groundwater monitoring ongoing; contamination from an adjacent property — historically operated with leaded-gasoline USTs — also impacts the site. 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 dispensing and automotive service operations at this site ran for roughly four decades before 1986, a period when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. The contamination tied to those pre-1986 tank systems — gasoline USTs closed in-place in the mid-1980s and a heating oil tank that required excavation years later — is now driving a remedial investigation whose cleanup costs have yet to be fully realized. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the decades of active fueling operations here may be obligated to fund the remediation that lies ahead.
Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful coverage claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage. Restorical then manages the claim, including accounting, to ensure the cleanup is funded in a timely manner.
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.
