This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1968. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property operated as a Texaco-branded service station from 1968 through 1998, with a waste oil underground storage tank present on-site as early as 1967. Five main fuel and diesel USTs were installed in 1986 as upgrades to the existing station infrastructure. Petroleum contamination — diesel-range, gasoline-range, and other petroleum hydrocarbons — was identified in groundwater beneath the property. Cleanup was conducted under the Voluntary Cleanup Program, and Ecology issued a No Further Action opinion in April 2023 after remediation brought all contaminant concentrations 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.
Fueling operations at this Texaco station began in 1968, nearly two decades before occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies stopped reliably covering pollution claims in 1986. The petroleum releases that contaminated groundwater here trace directly to that pre-1986 operational window. The remediation expenditures required to bring this site through the Voluntary Cleanup Program to a No Further Action determination represent costs that historical carriers who insured the station during its 1968-to-1986 operations may still be obligated to cover.
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.