This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as Gull Service Station No. 223 before its conversion to a Dollar Rent-A-Car facility. Five bare steel underground storage tanks — including two 10,000-gallon, one 6,000-gallon, one 550-gallon waste oil, and one 800-gallon fuel oil tank — were removed in 1989 after tank failure, and four sets of unmapped welded steel remote fill pipes were discovered in the tank nest, indicating additional legacy fueling infrastructure. Benzene was detected in groundwater at concentrations of 1,600 µg/L and 780 µg/L in on-site monitoring wells, and a groundwater remediation system operated from March through September 1990. The site has received a No Further Action determination. 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 bare steel tanks that failed and released petroleum at this site were consistent with installations from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s — well before 1986, when occurrence-based CGL policies still covered pollution events without an effective exclusion. The contamination documented in groundwater here — benzene and petroleum hydrocarbons — traces directly to the corrosion-driven failure of those aging tanks during their pre-1986 operational life. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the station's operators during that window may be obligated to cover the remediation expenditures incurred at this property.
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.