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 served as a retail gasoline station and automotive service and repair facility, with five underground storage tanks decommissioned in March 1998 — two of which were previously unknown, discovered only during the removal process. Groundwater investigations revealed extensive petroleum contamination, including TPH in gasoline and heavy oil range, BTEX, ethylene dichloride, and ethylene dibromide, with free product recovered from a monitoring well between 1998 and 1999. Groundwater monitoring continued from 1998 through 2014 under the Voluntary Cleanup Program, culminating in a No Further Action determination in November 2014. 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 underground storage tanks at this site were characterized as historic installations — with two so old they had been forgotten entirely before their discovery during decommissioning in 1998. The petroleum contamination in groundwater originated from retail gasoline operations that predate 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies were standard and carried no effective pollution exclusion. More than fifteen years of documented remediation and monitoring costs — free product recovery, groundwater sampling, and long-term monitoring through 2014 — represent expenditures that historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the facility's operational window may still be obligated to cover.
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.