Announcing the deal were, from left, Albert M. Rosenblatt, a retired judge; Gov. Eliot Spitzer; Anthony E. Shorris, Port Authority executive director; and Larry A. Silverstein, the developer. NY Times Photo
Insurance companies locked in settlement talks with World Trade Center developer Larry Silverstein have reached a deal.
Governor Eliot Spitzer said Wednesday that after six years of legal battles, a $2 billion settlement was reached.
Silverstein will get slightly more than $1 billion to settle all the claims against seven insurance companies. The rest of the money will go to the Port Authority.
“It permits us to move forward with certainty,” said Spitzer of the settlement. “It permits access to the capital markets, and it resolves and eliminates one of the outstanding hurdles that had remained.”
“It removes uncertainties,” said Silverstein. “It allows us to do what all of New York wanted us to do, and wants us desperately to do, and that’s rebuild the Trade Center.”
“Together with the people of America and the citizens of New York, we will be very happy to see this scar left by the terrorist attack finally healing,” said Andreas Snell of the Allianz Group, one of the firms involved in the settlement.
Silverstein has already been paid $2.4 billion in insurance claims.
He had previously argued that his $3.5 billion should be doubled, because the Trade Center disaster constituted two attacks instead of one.
The plan to rebuild the WTC site could now move forward more quickly. The settlement, said to be one of the largest ever, is expected to free up money for major development at the site.
Silverstein is responsible for rebuilding towers 2, 3, and 4. The Port Authority is handling the construction costs of the central Freedom Tower.
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The insurance battle has been complicated from the start by the circumstances of Mr. Silverstein’s lease of the trade center and the destruction of the complex by terrorists six weeks later. At that time, two dozen insurers had signed binders pledging to provide $3.5 billion in insurance coverage, but had not finished the documents.
An ugly dispute developed over which insurance policy was in effect at the time of the attack. Mr. Silverstein argued that since two jetliners had slammed into the two towers, he was entitled to a double payment on the $3.5 billion policy. But many of the insurers countered that they had agreed to a different policy that did not permit double claims.
In the sparring, the insurers attempted to paint Mr. Silverstein as a rapacious developer interested only in profiteering, while he asserted that the companies were being tight-fisted and shirking their moral and legal responsibilities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/24/nyregion/24insure.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
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