This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1980. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as a gasoline service station beginning in 1980, when four 12,000-gallon underground storage tanks — Regular Leaded Gasoline, Regular Unleaded Gasoline, Supreme Unleaded Gasoline, and Diesel — were installed. All four USTs were decommissioned in 1993. Monitoring wells installed in 1987 revealed benzene in groundwater above MTCA Method A cleanup levels across multiple wells, and groundwater monitoring continued from 1988 through the completion of a Cleanup Action Report in February 2010. The site achieved No Further Action status 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 — benzene and gasoline-range hydrocarbons detected in groundwater across multiple monitoring wells — originated from underground storage tanks installed in 1980, six years before occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies gave way to claims-made forms with pollution exclusions. The documented remediation expenditures — UST decommissioning, groundwater monitoring spanning more than two decades, and the investigation and cleanup work necessary to reach No Further Action status — were incurred to address releases tied directly to those pre-1986 tank operations. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the 1980–1986 window may still be obligated to recover those 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.