November 30, 2004

WTC Coverage Dispute - Phase Two

WTC lessee Larry Silverstein and several insurers disagree on whether the events of 9/11 at the World Trade Center Properties (WTC) were one "event" or "occurrence" (with one deductible and policy limit) or two (with two deductibles and policy limits). At stake in the dispute is several billion dollars in insurance coverage ... and the dispute is over the meaning of policies that had not been issued at the time of the disaster. The case has been to the Second Circuit and back, and is likely to make that trip, or higher, again. In the interim, the facts have been described as presenting a law school case study that has to be real, because it would not be credible if a professor made it up.

Online resources on the dispute include those linked below. Please let me know of other resources you might recommend:

(Read more)

Silverstein, Insurers Face Off In Round Two $2.264 billion at stake as nine carriers seek to limit 9/11 coverage to one event InsuranceNewsNet.com 10/14/2004, republishing National Underwriter 10/11/2004.

"Words worth billions: ..." Risk & Insurance, June 2004.

"Silverstein hit by Swiss Re setback; prepares for new phase of litigation", Business Insurance 5/10/2004.

WTC Leaseholder Loses Insurance Battle LexisOne.com April 30, 2004 (jury verdict that the attacks represented a single event)

"Revisiting the Number of Occurrences Issue -- An Examination of the Case Law on 'Number of Occurrences' In Light of the New York Federal Court's Recent Ruling that the Terrorist Attack on the World Trade Center is a Single Occurrence." Nixon PeabodyLLP, 10/8/2002.

"Double Indemnity", The American Lawyer, 9/3/2002.

"Twin Towers: The 3.6 Billion Question Arising from the World Trade Center Attacks" Defense Counsel Journal, April 2002.

Blogs following the case include:

  • "Mixed Bag of Insurance Coverage For Two Towers" May it Please the Court, 5/2/2004.
  • "Two Towers, Two Planes, One Occurrence, Too Bad" May it Please the Court, 9/27/2003.
  • "9-11 Collapse of WTC Towers Was One Occurrence" Insurance Defense Blog, 10/4/2003.

    See also, Robert P. Hartwig, "September 11, 2001: The First Year -- One Hundred Minutes of Terror that Changed the Global Insurance Industry Forever" Insurance Information Institute, circa 2002.

    The law and science of insurance is the law and science of disaster and its causes. An expert analysis report on the sequence of events and likely causes for the collapse of each WTC Tower is available from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), released October 19, 2004. Founded in 1901, NIST is a non-regulatory federal agency within the U.S. Commerce Department's Technology Administration. A NIST announcement summarizes its extensive report of findings. )

    DougSimpson.com/blog

    Posted by dougsimpson at November 30, 2004 11:14 AM | TrackBack
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