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.

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.

Shell's underground storage tanks at this Bellevue location were leaking petroleum hydrocarbons — benzene, diesel, and gasoline — into groundwater by 1990, and industry tank-lifecycle data indicates those tanks were very likely installed decades earlier, during the pre-1986 era when occurrence-based CGL policies carried no effective pollution exclusion. The remediation costs incurred to address the benzene and petroleum contamination confirmed in groundwater here — from initial investigation through the two-decade path to the 2011 No Further Action determination — are the type of documented cleanup expenditures that historical carriers who covered Shell's operations during the tank-installation window may still 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.