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 Kirkland property operated as an Exxon gas station with five underground storage tanks, three of which — holding 6,000, 8,000, and 12,000 gallons of gasoline — were excavated and removed in February 1994. Environmental investigations beginning in 1991 identified petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH-GRO, TPH-DRO), benzene, and lead in groundwater at concentrations exceeding MTCA Method A cleanup levels, with monitoring wells MW2 through MW16 tracked from 1991 to 2011. The site completed remediation under the Voluntary Cleanup Program and 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.
Based on their 1994 removal and the typical 25-year lifecycle of underground storage tanks, the gasoline USTs at this property were very likely installed before 1986 — placing the origin of petroleum and lead contamination in groundwater beneath this Kirkland station during the coverage window of occurrence-based CGL policies issued to the property's operators. Two decades of documented remediation activity — investigation, UST removal, and groundwater monitoring from 1991 through 2011 — represent cleanup expenditures that those historical carriers may be obligated to recover.
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.