Key issue on WTC: Single or double event?

NEW YORK, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The pivotal issue in the insurance dispute over the World Trade Center is whether the Sept. 17 terrorist attacks constituted a single insurable event, or two insurable events, The New York Times reported Saturday.

If deemed a single event, developer Larry A. Silverstein could file a claim for $3.6 billion. But for two insurable events, he could file two claims, totaling $7.2 billion in insurance coverage.

Silverstein, who holds a 99-year lease on the World Trade Center, is seeking to recover maximum payment from the insurers, while trying to minimize his liability under claims expected by victims and their families. About 4,500 people at the World Trade Center lost their lives when hijackers crashed two jetliners into the landmark complex in Lower Manhattan.

Some 20 companies are insurers of the World Trade Center, with Swiss Reinsurance Co., known as Swiss Re, the largest holder, the Times said.

Other insurers include Allianz, Chubb, Travelers, Liberty Mutual and Tokio Marine and Fire. The newspaper said Lloyds of London and Munich Reinsurance also face claims.

The battle is being waged in federal court and in the U.S. Congress, and has drawn in scores of lawyers and lobbyists.

To make his case in Washington -- to persuade lawmakers to approve legislation favorable to his side -- Silverstein has retained Jack Quinn, the Times said. Quinn helped orchestrate the granting of a pardon for commodities trader Marc Rich by President Bill Clinton.

Silverstein said he plans to rebuild the World Trade Center.

"There's no way I could not go forward and build this thing," Silverstein told the Times on Wednesday.

"What these terrorists have tried to do is destroy the symbol of New York, destroy the symbol of our economic progress, our strength, or way of life ..." Silverstein said.

Despite his commitment to rebuild, such a decision is not Silverstein's alone. Also involved would be the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the land upon which the World Trade Center was situated, and the state governments of New York and New Jersey, and the New York city government.

And there's also the question of whether anyone would rent space in a rebuilt World Trade Center.