This property has a documented history as a public works and maintenance facility going back to 1970. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property served as the Tahoma School District's bus parking and maintenance facility, with underground storage tanks for gasoline and diesel installed prior to 1970 and an additional 6,000-gallon diesel UST installed between 1975 and 1985. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program has included UST removal in 1999, excavation of approximately 3,209 tons of contaminated soil across two phases, operation of a soil vapor extraction system from 2001 to 2005 that recovered 915 pounds of hydrocarbons followed by conversion to bio-venting, and ongoing quarterly groundwater monitoring since 2001. 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.
Petroleum contamination at this property originated from underground storage tanks installed as early as the late 1960s — well within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. The remediation expenditures documented here — tank removals, thousands of tons of soil excavation, years of vapor extraction and bio-venting, and long-term groundwater monitoring — are the type of costs those historical policies were written to cover. Carriers who issued CGL coverage to the school district during the decades these USTs were in active service may still be obligated to reimburse those cleanup 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.
