The WTC insurance issue is resolved, reconstruction can begin

New York - The owners of the World Trade Center (WTC), which was destroyed in 2001 during the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York, have reached a settlement agreement and will end all lawsuits. As part of the insurance compensation, four insurance companies and their components will pay approximately two billion dollars (about 42 billion CZK), allowing the restoration to begin at the site where the WTC towers once stood, known as Ground Zero.
    The WTC developer Larry Silverstein began suing insurance companies after the destruction of both WTC towers over whether it constituted one or two insurance claims. New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer announced at a press conference today that the disputes, which dragged on for nearly six years, had been settled.
    "The agreement removes the last major obstacle to the development of Ground Zero," Spitzer said. The insurance companies Travelers Companies, Zürich American Insurance Company, Allianz Global Risk Insurance Company, Swiss Re, and its three components Industrial Risk Insurers, Employers Insurance Company Wausau, and Royal Indemnity Company agreed to the payout of two billion dollars.
    Spitzer and the state insurance regulator Eric Dinallo negotiated with the insurance companies, Silverstein, and the landowner, the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, for about two months.
    Since 2001, approximately 2.55 billion dollars have already been paid out as part of the insurance compensation, making the two billion discussed in today's agreement an additional amount. However, it is about 130 million dollars less than the amount that the court determined for the site's reconstruction following disputes in 2004.
    Disputes over insurance compensation cost both sides hundreds of millions of dollars, which were mostly "swallowed" by lawyers. "The agreement ensures that the Port Authority and Silverstein Properties will have the financial resources to meet their obligations and restore the site of the World Trade Center so that it becomes a pride for all New Yorkers, and it will expedite the revitalization of Manhattan," Spitzer said.
    Silverstein leased the WTC just a few weeks before the terrorist attacks but had previously taken out insurance for 3.5 billion dollars with about ten insurance companies. He sought double recovery in court because two planes attacked the WTC, each destroying one of the towers. Today's agreement was also praised by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.