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 ARCO Service Station No. 6120, with six steel underground storage tanks ranging from 600 to 10,000 gallons in capacity. A subsurface investigation in October 1989 under ARCO's UST Replacement Assessment Program revealed petroleum contamination in groundwater, including TPH-gasoline concentrations of 16,000 and 11,000 ppb in monitoring wells and approximately 0.17 feet of separate-phase hydrocarbons on the water table. All six tanks were removed between November 1990 and January 1991, and the site completed cleanup under Washington's Voluntary Cleanup Program, receiving 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 steel underground storage tanks at this site were of a size and construction vintage consistent with installation in the 1960s or 1970s — well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies still covered pollution events without an effective exclusion. The petroleum contamination documented in groundwater — TPH-gasoline, BTEX compounds, and free product — traces directly to releases from those pre-1986 tank operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the decades those tanks were in service may be obligated to reimburse the remediation costs incurred to achieve the site's No Further Action status.
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.