This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1971. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as a Texaco service and gasoline station from 1971 to 1991, with underground storage tanks serving the fueling operation throughout that period. USTs were decommissioned and removed in 1991, and subsequent investigation found soil and groundwater contaminated with total petroleum hydrocarbons (GRO, DRO, ORO), BTEX compounds, lead, and non-halogenated solvents at concentrations exceeding MTCA Method A cleanup levels. An air sparging and soil vapor extraction system operated from 1993 to 1996 to remediate the contamination, and the site received a No Further Action determination from Ecology in September 2024 under the Voluntary Cleanup Program. 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.
Petroleum contamination at this property originated from underground storage tanks installed in 1971 and operated for twenty years — fifteen of those years falling squarely within the era of occurrence-based CGL policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion. The documented remediation effort — UST removal, air sparging, soil vapor extraction, and the monitoring necessary to achieve No Further Action status — represents cleanup expenditures tied directly to releases from those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies to the station's operators during the 1971–1986 window may still be obligated to cover those remediation costs.
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.