The Final 9/11 Insured Loss Was $32.5 Billion
By Daniel Hays
NU Online News Service, Sept. 9 2:24 p.m. EDT?The final insured loss from the terrorist destruction of the World Trade Center will be nearly $8 billion less than the $40.2 billion projected several years ago, according to the Insurance Information Institute.[@@]
Robert Hartwig, executive vice president and chief economist at the New York-based industry association, said his latest analysis would put the loss figure at $32.5 billion.
He said that one factor reducing the amount was payments from the federal Victim Compensation Fund, established by Congress to compensate victims.
He said the Sept. 11, 2001 catastrophe resulted in about 60,000 claims of every sort, including life. Of those, he said, the number of claims still in dispute would amount to a fraction of 1 percent.
Most notable among these is the action by WTC developer Larry Silverstein, who sued more than a dozen of his insurers and is still in court on some aspects of the $7 billion dispute. Jury selection for the next trial phase is due to begin the end of this month at U.S. District Court in Manhattan, with opening arguments due Oct. 12.
Mr. Hartwig estimated that 5-to-8 percent of claims were still open because they involved claims of a nature that would be paid over time, such as workers' compensation injuries or rebuilding.
The Institute said that the New York Insurance Department's final tally just for property-casualty claims totaled 35,094. Of those, 23,334 were commercial and 11,760 were personal lines. There were 11,983 commercial property claims and 10,393 for personal property.
Workers' comp claims totaled 5,660. There were 1,367 private auto claims and 166 for commercial autos.
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