This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1929. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
A service station has operated at this Lynnwood property since as early as 1929, with historical aerial photographs confirming operations by 1947. Unocal acquired the property in 1966, removed the original station, and constructed a new gasoline service station with steel underground storage tanks and product lines. A leaking oil tank line was reported in 1985, and in 1987 the four steel USTs were removed and replaced with fiberglass tanks. Groundwater monitoring documented an extensive contamination plume — including benzene, MTBE, petroleum hydrocarbons, and non-halogenated solvents — extending off-site beneath 36th Avenue West, with benzene detected at 21 parts per billion in a neighboring residence. All six contaminant categories have since reached remediation-below-cleanup-level status, and 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.
Petroleum contamination at this property traces to underground storage tank operations that began decades before 1986 — as early as 1929, with documented steel UST installations by Unocal in 1966. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to the operators during that multi-decade pre-1986 window carried no effective pollution exclusion under Washington law. The remediation costs incurred here — tank removals, product-line repairs, long-term groundwater monitoring across a plume that migrated off-site into a residential area — are the type of documented cleanup expenditures that historical carriers may be obligated to recover.
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.