One attack, or two? The WTC dilemma

The consortium of insurers led by Swiss Re, The Economist reports, have in fact brought a lawsuit on the matter against the leaseholders of the WTC, headed by Larry Silverstein, a New York property developer.

Legal disputes, The Economist tells us, on such matters are hardly new. In one case, in supreme irony, a judge in California ruled on September 11, that four fires set by the same person, within a few hours, to four different county courthouses were four separate ‘occurrences’, and not one as the insurance companies had argued.

Apparently one of the policies (called WilProp 2000) defines ‘occurrence’ as possibly even a series of similar causes (like terrorism, or perhaps even Jihad?). Silverstein, however, argues that this policy is superseded by another (a form prepared by Travelers Indemnity, one of the main insurers), and that form doesn’t define ‘occurrence’, and leaves the definition vague.

A final verdict is expected sometime in September. Meanwhile read your policy very closely, and pray for such grey areas.