WTC insurance claims $7 billion, trail starts

A trial that could determine how much money is available to rebuild the World Trade Center (WTC) began on Monday with lawyers for insurers arguing that they agreed to a policy under which the twin towers’ destruction on September 11, 2001 was one event. Lawyers for insurance companies told a New York jury that after the toppling of WTC, the insurance manager for leaseholder Larry Silverstein sent a fax that identified that policy as the active one.

Silverstein’s lawyer argued that the manager was not thinking clearly that day because he was under pressure and emotionally distraught in the wake of the assault on the WTC that killed four of the company’s employees.

Silverstein claims that insurers owe him about $7 billion in payouts, double his policy, because two hijacked airliners destroying the twin towers represented two distinct events.

Thirteen insurers said he should get at most half that amount because the dominant insurance policy on September 11, 2001, was a form called WilProp, issued by broker Willis Group Holdings Ltd. Under that form, the towers’ destruction was clearly one event. (Reuters)