This property has a documented history as a property with a heating oil tank going back to 1930. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
The Washington Belt building at 672 East 11th Street has a petroleum storage history tracing to the 1930s, with underground heating oil tanks documented in use through the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. Cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program included the excavation and removal of three USTs totaling 1,850 gallons, closure-in-place of two additional heating oil tanks — one sized at 1,560 gallons — with tank contents pumped out, tanks inerted, cleaned, and disposed of off-site. A restrictive covenant was filed to manage residual diesel contamination remaining in groundwater, functioning as a permanent institutional control. Ecology has determined that no further active remediation is required at the site. 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 diesel contamination at this property traces to heating oil tanks installed and operated across a period spanning from the 1930s through the early 1970s — decades before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were still the industry standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented remediation costs — UST removals, excavation, tank disposal, and a recorded restrictive covenant constraining the property in perpetuity — arose directly from those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the operators of this facility during that multi-decade window may remain 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.
