This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1968. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as an ARCO gasoline station from at least 1968 until 2001, when all site improvements were demolished. The station's underground storage tank system included four steel USTs — two 4,000-gallon tanks for leaded gasoline, a 6,000-gallon tank for supreme gasoline, and a 12,000-gallon tank for unleaded — plus a 300-gallon orphan waste oil tank. When the original USTs were removed in 1990, the 6,000-gallon tank had eight quarter-inch corrosion holes; the waste oil tank, discovered during the 2001 decommissioning, was perforated with numerous holes. A 1989 subsurface investigation found benzene concentrations up to 6,180 µg/L and total petroleum hydrocarbons (gasoline) up to 94,400 µg/L in groundwater, and the site has since received a No Further Action determination under the Voluntary Cleanup Program. 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 site — benzene, lead, and gasoline-range hydrocarbons in groundwater — originated from corroded steel underground storage tanks that had been in service since at least 1968, nearly two decades before the 1986 shift away from occurrence-based CGL coverage. The documented remediation expenditures — UST removals, subsurface investigation, site decommissioning, and groundwater monitoring spanning from 1989 through 2001 — were incurred to address releases tied directly to those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the station's 1968–1986 operational window may still be obligated to recover those cleanup costs.
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.