WTC Insurance Coverage Case Goes to Jury
By Michael Ha
NU Online News Service, April 19, 2 :33 p.m. EDT?The insurance coverage dispute case that has pitted World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein against 13 of his insurers was sent to the jury this morning. At 6 p.m. they had still reached no decision.[@@]
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mukasey, before he gave the case to the six-man, five-woman jury, instructed them that their job is to decide whether the Willis Group's "Wilprop" form was the governing form for each insurer's coverage agreement when the terrorist attack took place on Sept. 11, 2001.
The judge also instructed the jury that the insurers in this case had the burden of proof to demonstrate that a majority of the evidence pointed toward insurers agreeing to the Willis form. His charge lasted a little more than 40 minutes.
If the evidence is equal on both sides, the judge told jurors they must vote against the insurers.
Judge Mukasey also emphasized to the jurors that their job should be carried out "without sympathy or prejudice" for Mr. Silverstein or the insurers. The jury's verdict must be unanimous in this case.
(There are currently 11 jurors for this trial, with one juror having been dismissed several days ago because he told the judge he had a business obligation that prevented him from serving through the end of the trial.)
Throughout the trial, insurers have argued that they are bound to the Wilprop form, which specifically defines "occurrence" and would limit Mr. Silverstein's WTC claim to one event of $3.55 billion.
Mr. Silverstein's attorneys have argued that the document which applies is a Travelers property form, which offers no such definition and thus would be more beneficial to Mr. Silverstein's claim?that two airplanes crashing into the Twin Towers constitute two insurable events.
The 13 insurers had not signed final policy documents before terrorists took down the towers on Sept. 11, 2001.
Insurers represented at the trial and the dollar amounts of their policies using a single-occurrence basis are as follows:
? Swiss Reinsurance Company, $778.1 million.
? Lloyd's of London underwriters, $662.8 million.
? Federal Insurance Company, $254.3 million.
? Royal Specialty Underwriting, $178 million.
? Employers Insurance of Wausau, $64.9 million.
? Zurich American Insurance Co., 45.7 million.
? Great Lakes Reinsurance PLC in U.K., $35 million.
? Wurttembergische Versicherung AG, $16 million.
? QBE International Insurance Ltd., $12.5 million.
? Lexington Insurance, $5 million.
? Copenhagen Reinsurance Co. Ltd. in U.K., $4 million.
? Twin City Fire Insurance Company, $2.5 million.
? Houston Casualty Company, $2.4 million.
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