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 property was first developed as a residence in 1936 and later converted into a restaurant; contamination at the site stemmed from a leaking heating oil underground storage tank located north of the building. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program began in 2007 with tank removal, excavation of 101 tons of diesel-range hydrocarbon-impacted soil, and pumping of 10,700 gallons of groundwater. Follow-up investigations in 2013–2014 led to an additional excavation of 24.49 tons of contaminated soil and removal of a grease trap in 2015, with groundwater monitoring continuing from 2007 through 2015 and an environmental covenant in place from 2008 to 2016. Ecology issued a No Further Action determination following the completion of site restoration. 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 property dates to 1936, and the heating oil UST at its core predates modern pollution-exclusion language by decades — well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies began reliably excluding gradual releases. A slow underground leak of the kind documented here is precisely the contamination scenario those pre-1986 CGL policies were written to cover. The documented remediation expenditures — tank removal, two rounds of soil excavation, groundwater recovery, years of monitoring, and a recorded environmental covenant — represent cleanup costs that historical carriers may remain obligated to address.
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.
