This property has operated as a 7-Eleven convenience store and gas station since the late 1960s, equipped with three underground single-walled steel storage tanks ranging from 4,000 to 10,000 gallons. Benzene and petroleum-gasoline hydrocarbons have been detected in groundwater beneath the site. The property has received a No Further Action determination under Washington's cleanup program. That history could support an insurance cost recovery claim against carriers who issued insurance policies 40+ years ago.
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 storage and dispensing at this property began nearly two decades before 1986, during the period when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. The benzene and gasoline-range contamination found in groundwater here is consistent with releases from the single-walled steel underground storage tanks that were standard equipment in that pre-1986 era. Historical carriers who issued CGL policies covering this 7-Eleven location during the late 1960s through mid-1980s may still bear obligations for the remediation costs tied to those releases.
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.
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.
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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.