This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1928. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could fund a cleanup — and recover costs already spent.
This property operated as a Unocal gasoline service station from 1928 to 1990, with six underground storage tanks — including two 12,000-gallon gasoline USTs, a 2,000-gallon gasoline UST, and tanks for used oil and heating oil. Cleanup under the Standard Cleanup program began in 1990 with UST removal and has continued through multiple phases: remedial soil excavations in 1993 and 1998 removed thousands of tons of petroleum-contaminated soil, a multi-phase extraction system operated from 2005 to 2007 and recovered 56,415 gallons of fluid, and groundwater monitoring with activated-carbon treatment ran from at least 1990 to 2013. A restrictive covenant was filed in 1999 due to residual contamination, and cleanup work remains ongoing. 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 underground storage tanks installed and operated as early as 1928 — nearly six decades before occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies gave way to claims-made forms with pollution exclusions. The remediation cost trail here is extensive: UST removals, large-scale soil excavations, years of multi-phase extraction, and over two decades of groundwater monitoring and treatment. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the operators during that pre-1986 window may be obligated both to recover past cleanup expenditures and to fund the remediation that continues today.
Restorical's role is to locate viable historical policies, determine whether a successful coverage claim is possible, and assist our clients and their legal counsel to obtain insurance coverage. Restorical then manages the claim, including accounting, to ensure the cleanup is funded in a timely manner.
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.
