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 gas station property operated with four steel underground storage tanks dispensing regular leaded, premium unleaded, and regular unleaded gasoline. In October 1990, Time Oil Co. removed all four USTs as part of a facility upgrade — the tanks were rusted and pitted — and replaced them with double-walled fiberglass tanks. Site investigations under the Voluntary Cleanup Program confirmed lead, benzene, and petroleum-gasoline contamination in groundwater, and 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.
The steel USTs removed from this property stored leaded gasoline — a product phased out through the 1970s and 1980s — and their rusted, degraded condition at removal in 1990 confirms they had been in service for decades, well before 1986. The groundwater contamination documented here — lead, benzene, and petroleum hydrocarbons — is tied directly to those long-operating tanks and the releases that occurred during the pre-1986 period when occurrence-based CGL policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The investigation and remediation costs incurred to bring this site to No Further Action status may be recoverable from historical carriers whose policies were in effect when those releases began.
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.