This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1985. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
Plaid Pantry operated a retail gasoline station at this Bothell property from 1985 until 2017, as confirmed by both the 2012 Remedial Investigation Report and the 2021 NFA Request Technical Memorandum. Groundwater investigations conducted from 2007 through 2021 documented an extensive gasoline plume beneath the site, with benzene, BTEX constituents, PAHs, halogenated organics, and free-phase gasoline detected on the water table. The site was enrolled in the Voluntary Cleanup Program and has since received a No Further Action determination. 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.
Retail gasoline operations began at this property in 1985 — the final year before occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies gave way to claims-made forms with absolute pollution exclusions. CGL policies in effect during that pre-1986 operational window carried no effective pollution exclusion under Washington law and remain enforceable today. The extensive groundwater contamination documented here — benzene, BTEX, PAHs, and free-phase gasoline requiring investigation and remediation over more than a decade — represents the type of cost exposure those historical policies were written 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.