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 property operated as an ARCO-branded gasoline service station with six underground storage tanks — four gasoline, one fuel oil, and one waste oil — that were decommissioned and removed in January and February 1995 during a facility remodel to a Chevron station. Environmental investigation at the site began in March 1991, and petroleum hydrocarbons were confirmed in both soil and groundwater. Groundwater monitoring conducted from 1994 through 2013 documented TPH-Gx and BTEX exceedances across multiple monitoring wells, and the site achieved No Further Action status 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.
The underground storage tanks removed from this property in 1995 were consistent with installations dating well before 1986, when occurrence-based Commercial General Liability policies routinely covered pollution claims without effective exclusion. The petroleum contamination documented in soil and groundwater here — TPH and BTEX compounds — originated from those long-operating tanks, and more than two decades of groundwater monitoring and remediation were required to reach closure. Historical carriers whose CGL policies were in effect during the pre-1986 operating period may be obligated to recover those documented cleanup costs.
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.