This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1970. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property has operated as an ARCO gasoline station since at least 1970. In December 1989, four original underground storage tanks — two 4,000-gallon, one 6,000-gallon, and one 10,000-gallon — were decommissioned and replaced with four new 10,000-gallon double-wall fiberglass USTs; groundwater seepage with a visible petroleum sheen was observed during the excavation. The site entered the Leaking Underground Storage Tank database in February 1992, and groundwater monitoring conducted from 1994 through 2015 confirmed that benzene exceeded MTCA Method A Cleanup Levels in multiple monitoring wells. The site has received a No Further Action determination 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 originated from underground storage tanks that were in continuous service from at least 1970 — more than fifteen years before occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies began excluding pollution claims. Benzene exceedances in groundwater and the visible sheen observed during the 1989 tank excavation point to releases that occurred during that pre-1986 operational window. The documented remediation costs — UST decommissioning, subsurface investigation, and over two decades of groundwater monitoring — represent expenditures that historical CGL carriers who covered the facility during the 1970s and early 1980s may still be obligated to reimburse.
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.