This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility going back to 1971. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as a John Deere implement dealership and repair shop beginning in the early 1970s, with a building constructed in 1971 and underground storage tanks for gasoline and diesel installed in 1976. A 4,000-gallon waste oil tank supported equipment maintenance operations on site. Chronic leaks from UST fittings and drain fields contaminated soil and groundwater with petroleum hydrocarbons. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included removal of all three underground storage tanks, excavation of thousands of cubic yards of petroleum-contaminated soil for incorporation into asphalt, oil spill spot removal, and groundwater monitoring spanning from 1992 through at least 1994, with a No Further Action determination issued in 2002. 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.
Petroleum contamination at this site originated from fuel storage and waste oil operations that began in the early 1970s — more than a decade before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies ceased reliably covering pollution claims in Washington. The chronic, slow-release nature of the UST leaks documented here is precisely the kind of occurrence these pre-1986 policies were written to insure. A decade of remediation expenditures — tank removals, large-scale soil excavation, and years of groundwater monitoring — represent costs that historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the facility's operational window may still be obligated to reimburse.
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.
