This property has a documented history as a industrial and manufacturing facility predating 1986. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This Bellevue property served as a BMC West building materials facility with an on-site vehicle maintenance shop that operated three underground storage tanks — a 2,000-gallon gasoline tank and two diesel tanks totaling 11,000 gallons — all constructed of bare and galvanized steel. The tanks were removed in November 1990, and subsequent investigation confirmed benzene and petroleum hydrocarbon contamination in groundwater. Remediation under the Voluntary Cleanup Program brought all contaminant concentrations below applicable cleanup levels, and the site has received a No Further Action determination from Ecology. 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 property were registered with the Department of Ecology before the 1986 RCRA Subtitle I registration requirement took effect, and their bare steel construction is consistent with installation decades before 1986 — squarely within the era of occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies that carried no effective pollution exclusion. The documented costs of tank removal, site investigation, groundwater remediation, and monitoring at this Bellevue facility were incurred to address petroleum releases from those pre-1986 fuel storage operations, and historical carriers who issued CGL policies during the tanks' operational life may still be obligated to cover those expenditures.
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.