Silverstein's WTC case faces setback.(Reporter's Notebook)

Claims, February, 2004

Jurors deliberating the case between the lease holder of the World Trade Center and its insurers can hear a previous appellate court ruling against Larry Silverstein, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled. Silverstein has sued the insurers of the center's towers, which were destroyed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, arguing that they are obligated to recompense him for two insured events, rather than one. On Sept. 26, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld a lower court's decision that the terrorist attacks constituted one event.

Under the policy, Silverstein is entitled to $3.5 billion per event. He is claiming two events, totaling close to $7 billion, contending that the two jets that struck the towers were separate events.