World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein suffered a major defeat Thursday when a federal jury found that several insurers were governed by a temporary policy that limited the payment for the destruction of the twin towers to one occurrence.
In the second week of deliberations, a jury told Southern District of New York Judge Michael B. Mukasey that it had reached a verdict on the facts for all but one insurance company, albeit the one with the largest stake in the dispute.
Silverstein claims that the attacks were two occurrences and he should therefore be paid double the almost $3.5 billion all parties agree he is owed at a minimum.
Thursday's partial verdict reduced the amount that could be doubled by $1.06 billion, leaving the rest in doubt.
But even for those policies that still might have to pay for more than one occurrence, the question remains whether the twin attacks on the towers were two occurrences, or only two parts of a single occurrence. In other words, the fight is far from over.