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Insurers settle World Trade Center dispute for 2 billion dollars
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 24 - 05 - 2007


A group of seven major insurance companies has
agreed a 2-billion-dollar payment to settle a long-running dispute
over insurance claims for New York's destroyed World Trade Center,
clearing the way for the redevelopment of the iconic site, DPA REPORTED Thursday.
The seven-strong group consisted of Allianz Global Risk, the
Travelers Companies, Zurich American, Swiss Re, Employers' Insurance,
Industrial Risk Insurers and Royal Indemnity, The New York Times
reported.
The deal concludes a five-year legal battle between Larry
Silverstein, who leased the World Trade Center site just six weeks
prior to the Twin Towers' destruction in the September 11, 2001
terrorist attacks, and insurers.
The settlement brings to 4.5 billion dollars the amount awarded to
Silverstein in insurance settlements, and provides a green light for
the 9-billion-dollar redevelopment of the site to proceed.
All parties to the deal signed a confidentiality clause barring
them from revealing how much each insurer had paid out.
The settlement was the largest in industry history, said Andreas
Shell, claims crisis coordinator for Allianz, adding that his company
was "extremely happy with the result."
The proceeds of the settlement will be split between the Port
Authority of New York, which owns the site and Silverstein
Properties, which is spearheading its rebuilding.
Officials said the deal would enable them to obtain private
financing for the project, which involves the 3-billion-dollar
"Freedom Tower" as well as retail and other office towers, the
newspaper reported.
"The unsettled insurance claims were the last major barrier to
rebuilding and have been bitterly and intensely contested for almost
six years," said New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who in recent weeks
had taken part in talks aimed at ending the dispute.
?This means we can now fund construction, access the financial
markets and move on to what should be our primary focus: rebuilding,"
Spitzer told the New York Times.
As part of the deal, the Port Authority and Silverstein had to
relinquish their claim that the companies owed more than 500 million
dollars in interest resulting from delays in making the payments. The
insurers, in turn, abandoned their claim that they did not owe the
money until the project was completed, in 2012.
At the time of the 9/11 terrorists attacks some two dozen insurers
were engaged in an uncompleted deal with Silverstein to provide 3.5
billion dollars in coverage for the World Trade Center.
Conflict ensued amid disputes over which policy was in force at
the time of the attack, and over claims by Silverstein that he was
entitled to a twin payout as two jetliners had been involved in the
attacks.
In 2004 following lengthy proceedings a court ruled that the
developer was owed a maximum 4.6 billion dollars, less than the 7
billion he had sought.


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