This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1957. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Shell developed this property as a retail gasoline and auto service station in 1957, installing six underground storage tanks — two 3,000-gallon, two 4,000-gallon, and two 500-gallon — to store petroleum products and waste oil. The station remained in operation until 1972. A remedial investigation confirmed petroleum hydrocarbon and metals contamination in groundwater, and the site was addressed through the Voluntary Cleanup Program, receiving a No Further Action determination in 2020. 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 property — benzene, lead, gasoline- and diesel-range hydrocarbons, and non-halogenated solvents in groundwater — traces directly to underground storage tanks installed and operated by Shell beginning in 1957, nearly three decades before the 1986 cutoff for occurrence-based CGL coverage. Carriers who issued policies to the operator during the 1957–1972 service station era did so under terms that carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented remediation costs incurred to reach the site's No Further Action status represent expenditures those historical policies 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.