This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during operations at this property and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Holyrood Cemetery, operated by Associated Catholic Cemeteries in Shoreline, maintained two underground storage tanks — one 500-gallon diesel and one 500-gallon gasoline — adjacent to its maintenance building until their removal in 1997. An investigation under the Voluntary Cleanup Program documented approximately 15,000 gallons of petroleum-impacted groundwater, with contaminants including petroleum hydrocarbons, benzene, and non-halogenated solvents. The site received a No Further Action determination from Ecology in June 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 diesel and gasoline USTs at this cemetery were in service for decades before their 1997 removal, and the resulting petroleum contamination reached an estimated 15,000 gallons of impacted groundwater. Occurrence-based CGL policies issued to the property operator during the tanks' pre-1986 service years carried no effective pollution exclusion under Washington law. The documented remediation expenditures — tank removal, site investigation, and groundwater cleanup leading to the 2011 No Further Action letter — represent costs that historical carriers who insured the property during that 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.