This property has a documented history as a property with a heating oil tank going back to 1974. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property served as a Virginia Mason medical clinic in North Bend, King County, with an underground heating oil tank supporting the facility. In 1999, the UST was removed as part of an independent remedial action conducted by Dames & Moore, with confirmation soil sampling performed following the removal. The site was enrolled in the Voluntary Cleanup Program and received a No Further Action determination from Ecology, which updated its Leaking Underground Storage Tank database accordingly. 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.
Based on the standard 25-year lifecycle for underground storage tanks of this type, the heating oil UST at the Virginia Mason clinic was likely installed around 1974 — squarely within the window when occurrence-based CGL policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented remediation costs — tank removal, soil sampling, and the regulatory process to secure a No Further Action determination — arose from a release tied to that mid-1970s installation and the decades of operation that followed. Historical carriers who covered the clinic during those years may still bear obligation for 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.
