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 operated as an Exxon gas station with five underground storage tanks until operations ceased by 1989. The USTs were removed in 1988, and a Phase I Site Investigation completed in May 1989 led to subsurface delineation work beginning in February 1990, which identified petroleum hydrocarbons, benzene, lead, and other contaminants in groundwater — contamination that extended approximately 150 feet west of the property into a residential area. The site was remediated under the Voluntary Cleanup Program and received a No Further Action determination in July 2011. 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 Exxon station were almost certainly installed in the 1960s or 1970s, placing the origin of petroleum operations — and the onset of contamination — squarely within the era of occurrence-based CGL policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion. The documented remediation required to achieve No Further Action status, including addressing an off-site groundwater plume that reached neighboring residential properties, represents the type of cleanup expenditure that historical carriers who insured those pre-1986 operations may 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.