This property has a documented history as a gasoline service station going back to 1900. Historical insurance policies issued during those prior operations and through 1986 could recover the cleanup costs already paid.
This property was the site of a gasoline station as early as the 1900s, with three underground storage tanks that remained buried long after the station ceased operations and a restaurant took its place around 1950. A 1990 remediation effort identified petroleum hydrocarbon contamination in subsurface tidal water at 29 ppm — nearly double Ecology's 15 ppm cleanup guideline — along with BTEX compounds in soil and groundwater. Ecology required installation of monitoring wells and groundwater monitoring beginning in 2002, and the site received a No Further Action determination in 2012. 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 petroleum contamination at this property traces to underground storage tanks from a gasoline station that operated in the early 1900s — decades before occurrence-based CGL policies began excluding pollution claims in 1986. Remediation costs spanning from the 1990 cleanup through more than a decade of required groundwater monitoring were incurred to address releases from those pre-1986 USTs. Historical carriers who provided CGL coverage during the gas station's operating years may still be obligated to recover those documented cleanup 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.