This property has a documented history as a property with a heating oil tank going back to 1958. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Wilson Pacific Elementary School was constructed in 1958 with two single-walled steel underground storage tanks — a 6,000-gallon heating oil tank and a 1,000-gallon diesel tank — installed as part of the original boiler room infrastructure. The tanks operated from 1958 until their removal in March 2015. A Phase II subsurface investigation confirmed groundwater contamination at the site, with TPH-Gasoline at 1,700 µg/L, TPH-Diesel at 6,400 µg/L, and arsenic at 15.4 mg/L, all exceeding MTCA Method A cleanup levels. 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.
The heating oil and diesel tanks at this property were installed in 1958 and operated continuously for nearly six decades, placing the first 28 years of their service squarely within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability coverage. CGL policies issued to the Shoreline School District during that pre-1986 window carried no effective pollution exclusion and remain a potential source of cost recovery for the petroleum and arsenic contamination documented in the site's groundwater. With investigation, tank removal, and cleanup costs already incurred to reach a No Further Action determination, historical carriers who covered the property during decades of tank operation may bear an obligation to reimburse those 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.