This property has a documented history as a property with a heating oil tank predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This residential property in Issaquah sustained a release of diesel fuel (heating oil) from an underground storage tank into underlying soil and groundwater. A voluntary cleanup was undertaken through Washington State's Voluntary Cleanup Program, and the Department of Ecology subsequently determined that the contamination no longer posed a threat to human health or the environment, issuing a No Further Action determination in June 2000. 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.
Heating oil tanks at residential properties were routinely installed and in service long before 1986, the period when occurrence-based general liability and homeowner policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. A fuel release significant enough to require a formal voluntary cleanup under Ecology oversight — with documented investigation and remediation costs — is precisely the type of slow, subsurface contamination those pre-1986 policies were written to cover. Historical carriers whose policies were in force during the years this tank was in operation may bear obligations for the cleanup expenditures that were incurred.
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.
