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 the McEvoy Brothers Texaco retail gasoline station — later McEvoy Oil Co. — in Bellingham, with underground storage tanks servicing fuel sales for decades before the station closed in 2002. USTs were removed and a closure site assessment was completed in January 2003, revealing benzene, non-halogenated solvents, and petroleum-gasoline contamination in groundwater. The site entered the Voluntary Cleanup Program and received a No Further Action opinion letter from Ecology in March 2011. 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 station were removed in 2002–2003; standard industry tank lifecycles place their original installation well before 1978, squarely within the era when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. The groundwater contamination documented at the site — benzene and petroleum constituents — is the type of gradual release tied to decades of fuel storage and dispensing under those pre-1986 operations. Historical carriers who insured the McEvoy Brothers Texaco station during that operational window may still bear obligations for the remediation costs incurred to reach the site's No Further Action status.
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.