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.
This property operated as a fuel dispensing site with five underground storage tanks — four containing diesel and one gasoline, ranging from 550 to 6,000 gallons in capacity — that were removed in 2000 in a state of heavy corrosion, with numerous holes and pits consistent with decades of use. Remediation conducted between 2000 and 2001 included tank removal, excavation and offsite disposal of contaminated soil and sediments, and backfilling with clean material. Groundwater monitoring from 2002 through 2009 confirmed that monitored natural attenuation was effective, and Ecology granted a No Further Action determination in 2013. 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 severe corrosion documented on these tanks — holes and pits throughout — is physical evidence of a long operational history that almost certainly predates 1986, the year occurrence-based CGL policies began incorporating effective pollution exclusions. Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination attributed to leakage from those tanks, not to any discrete recent incident, is precisely the type of gradual, continuing release that pre-1986 policies were written to cover. The documented remediation expenditures here — tank removals, soil and sediment excavation, years of groundwater monitoring — represent costs that historical carriers whose policies were in force during that 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.
