WTC Loss Lower Than Expected
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.
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 are of a nature that would be paid over time, such as workers' compensation injuries or rebuilding.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, September 9, 2004. Copyright 2004 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
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