This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1947. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as a Unocal service station beginning in 1947, originally equipped with two service bays, a pump island, and four underground storage tanks totaling 7,000 gallons of capacity. The original station was demolished in 1968 and replaced with a new facility featuring 10,000-gallon USTs; a heating oil tank was also replaced prior to 1980 after leaking. Petroleum hydrocarbons — including benzene, diesel-range, and gasoline-range compounds — were detected in groundwater at or above drinking water standards, with separate-phase hydrocarbons requiring free product recovery at one monitoring well. The site entered the Voluntary Cleanup Program and 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.
Fuel storage and dispensing operations at this site began in 1947 — nearly four decades before 1986, the year occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies stopped reliably covering pollution claims in Washington. The groundwater contamination documented here, including benzene and petroleum hydrocarbons at concentrations exceeding drinking water standards, traces directly to underground storage tanks installed and operated during that pre-1986 window. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the station's operators across those decades may still be obligated to recover the remediation costs incurred to bring the site to its current 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.