This property has a documented history as a bulk fuel distribution terminal going back to 1973. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as a trucking terminal from at least the early 1970s, with an underground storage tank system comprising two 10,000-gallon tanks and one 5,000-gallon tank storing diesel fuel, and a separate 2,000-gallon tank for waste oil — all installed between 1973 and 1978. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program proceeded in three excavation phases between 1995 and 2010, removing a combined 2,926 tons of petroleum-contaminated soil, along with the removal of all four underground storage tanks, backfilling with clean material, off-site disposal of contaminated material, and multi-year groundwater monitoring and soil confirmation sampling. The site has received a No Further Action determination. 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 diesel and waste oil contamination at this property traces directly to underground storage tanks installed and operated in 1973 and 1978 — more than a decade before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were the industry standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. The three-phase, fifteen-year remediation effort — nearly 3,000 tons of impacted soil excavated and disposed off-site, four tanks removed, and years of groundwater monitoring — represents precisely the category of cleanup expenditure those pre-1986 policies were written to cover. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the trucking terminal operator during that period may still be obligated to recover those documented 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.
