This property has a documented history as a bulk fuel distribution terminal going back to 1965. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as the Time Oil bulk plant in Seattle, storing and distributing diesel fuel from four 10,000-gallon underground storage tanks installed around 1965. The tanks were removed by excavation in 1990, triggering a cleanup effort under the Voluntary Cleanup Program that spanned more than two decades — including bioventing and enhanced bioventing from 1994 to 1997, removal of 29 tons of contaminated soil in 2010, and extensive groundwater monitoring from 1990 through at least 2010. The site has since 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.
Diesel contamination at this property originated from underground storage tanks that were in service for roughly twenty-five years before their removal in 1990 — placing their entire operational life squarely within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented remediation costs — tank removal, two decades of bioventing and groundwater monitoring, and a final soil excavation — were incurred to address releases tied directly to those pre-1986 bulk-plant operations. Historical carriers who wrote CGL policies covering the Time Oil bulk plant during that window may still be obligated to recover those cleanup expenditures.
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.
