This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1973. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as a gasoline service station beginning in 1973, first under the U.S.A. brand, then Chevron through 1988, and subsequently Unocal. Three 12,000-gallon underground storage tanks were removed from the site in July 1990. A Class A Environmental Site Assessment completed in 1991 confirmed petroleum contamination in groundwater, with TPH, ethylbenzene, and xylenes detected in monitoring wells and oily sheen with gasoline-like odor observed in groundwater samples. The site entered the Voluntary Cleanup Program and has since 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 releases at this property originated from underground storage tanks installed and operated beginning in 1973 — thirteen years before occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies stopped reliably covering pollution claims. The operators who ran this station through the 1970s and 1980s held CGL policies with no effective pollution exclusion, and those policies remain enforceable in Washington. The documented remediation costs — UST removal, site assessment, groundwater monitoring — represent expenditures that the historical carriers who insured this station during its pre-1986 operations may still 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.