This property has a documented history as a automobile dealership going back to 1964. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Roberts Motors has operated as a car dealership at this Auburn property since 1964, selling and servicing cars and light trucks continuously to the present day. Contamination originated from two underground storage tanks — a gasoline UST and a waste oil UST — both installed in 1964 and removed in 1989, as well as three hydraulic hoists. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program ran from 2016 to 2019 and included removal of the hoists and USTs, excavation and disposal of approximately 70.78 tons of petroleum-contaminated soil, and installation and regular purging of groundwater monitoring wells. The site has since received 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 and waste oil USTs at this site were installed in 1964 and operated for more than two decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were still the prevailing form and carried no effective pollution exclusion. The petroleum releases from those tanks and hydraulic hoists are attributable directly to pre-1986 operations — precisely the type of long-tail contamination event those historical policies were written to cover. Documented remediation expenditures, including tank and hoist removals, soil excavation, and multi-year groundwater monitoring, represent cleanup costs that historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the 1964–1986 operational window may still 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.
