This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1970. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as a corporate Texaco gasoline station with underground storage tanks likely installed around 1970, consistent with Texaco's national station buildout of the 1950s through 1970s. A 1995 UST Site Assessment and Interim Remedial Action report documented that the tanks had degraded and were leaking petroleum products — benzene, gasoline, and non-halogenated solvents — into groundwater. Remediation was conducted under the Voluntary Cleanup Program, and the site has achieved No Further Action status, with all three groundwater contaminants remediated to below cleanup levels. 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 underground storage tanks at this Texaco station were installed and operating decades before 1986, during the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. Petroleum contamination from those tanks — benzene, gasoline, and related solvents confirmed in groundwater — required remedial action that generated documented cleanup expenditures. Historical CGL carriers who covered this station during the pre-1986 operational window may still be obligated to reimburse 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.