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 a Gull Industries service station with four underground storage tanks — two 10,000-gallon regular gasoline, one 8,000-gallon premium gasoline, and one 8,000-gallon diesel — serving as a retail fuel facility predating 1986. Texaco Refining and Marketing Inc. acquired the property in 1989, and an initial investigation during the property transfer in July 1989 revealed petroleum contamination surrounding the USTs. All four tanks were removed in September 1990, and the site was enrolled in the Voluntary Cleanup Program. The site 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.
Gull Industries operated this service station with underground storage tanks that, based on industry tank lifecycle standards, were installed well before 1986 — the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. Petroleum contamination confirmed in groundwater — including benzene, diesel-range, and gasoline-range hydrocarbons — traces to releases from those long-standing fueling operations. The remediation expenditures incurred to address this contamination, from UST removal through investigation and cleanup under the Voluntary Cleanup Program, are the type of historical pollution liabilities that CGL carriers from the pre-1986 operational period 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.