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 Exxon Station #7-3383, a retail gasoline dispensing and automotive service station. Five underground storage tanks — three 10,000-gallon gasoline tanks, one 1,000-gallon waste oil tank, and one fuel oil tank — were removed from the site in 1990, and petroleum hydrocarbons were detected in soil and groundwater from tank corrosion and overfill. Groundwater contamination also included benzene, lead, and other priority pollutant metals. 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.
The five underground storage tanks removed in 1990 had a contamination profile — corroded single-wall steel tanks leaking petroleum hydrocarbons into soil and groundwater — consistent with tanks installed and operated well before 1986, when occurrence-based CGL policies carried no effective pollution exclusion in Washington. The documented remediation expenditures at this site — tank removal, soil and groundwater investigation, and monitoring through the Voluntary Cleanup Program — represent costs that historical carriers who issued policies during the station's pre-1986 operational window 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.