Insurance vs Larry Silverstein and the World Trade Center Collapse on 9.11

What happens when a terrorist attack becomes a highly litigated claim?

Welcome to the Insurance vs History Podcast! In my sixth episode, I take a deep dive into the legal wrangling around the property policy covering the World Trade Center. This is a wild ride!

Links:

• 9/11 – An Occurrence That Changed The World - Insurance - United States (mondaq.com) Really outstanding summary of the various lawsuits and coverage issues surrounding whether or not the WTC attack was one occurrence or two.
• https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/06/how-lawmakers-protected-and-failed-9-11-first-responders.html
• Larry Silverstein - Wikipedia Do yourself a favor and limit your searches for Larry Silverstein to this article. The amount of horrible antisemitic and conspiracy theory websites that come up with a google search of his name is not worth sorting through.
• Larry Silverstein Writes His Own WTC History – SURFACE (surfacemag.com)
• 15 Years After 9/11, Larry Silverstein Finally Recreated WTC || World Trade Center
• The Twin Towers Project: A Cautionary Tale: The building of the World Trade Center showed what happens when pols and bureaucrats, rather than the market, control redevelopment. | City Journal (city-journal.org) Definitely an opinion piece, but with some good history.
• World Trade Center - Development, 9/11 Attacks & Rebuilding - HISTORY
• Judge seals Willis E&O documents on WTC placement | Business Insurance

Law Journal Articles (sorry, no links):

• Ten Years after 9/11: Property Insurance Lessons Learned, Scott G. Johnson, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal Spring Summer 2011, Vol 46, No 3 /4 pp 658-733: Outstanding overview of all the property issues and cases brought in court, including Business Interruption, Salvage, and Tenants in the WTC building.
• THE INSURANCE AFTERMATH OF SEPTEMBER 11: MYRIAD CLAIMS, MULTIPLE LINES, ARGUMENTS OVER OCCURRENCE COUNTING, WAR RISK EXCLUSIONS, THE FUTURE OF TERRORISM COVERAGE, AND NEW ISSUES OF GOVERNMENT ROLE Jeffrey W. Stempel, Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Law Journal Spring 2002, Vol. 37, No 3 pp 817-882: Overview of issues including War Exclusion, but as it was less than a year after 9.11, you have to read it knowing a lot of his assertions wouldn't hold true.
• As WTC trial proceeds, jurors demand clarification; Michael Ha National Underwriter Property and Casualty Risk and Benefits Management Vol 108, Issue 7: Michael Ha wrote a lot of articles on this trial. I haven't cited all of them here, but I used a lot of them in this research.
• Broker didn't inform insurers of form switch, Douglas McLeod, Business Insurance, Vol 38, no 9, March 2004: another reporter who wrote a lot of articles that I used.
• WTC Case shows importance of documenting negotiations, Akos Swierkiewicz, Business Insurance, June 21 2004

Articles that would require a subscription:

• WTC update: Silverstein shenanigans earn court ban but contempt motion dropped (insuranceinsider.com)
• Willis to hand over WTC E&O documents (insuranceinsider.com) This is soooo funny.
• World Trade Center Deal Remains in Doubt - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Books:

Hire These People:

• My audio editor, and AMAZING Voice Over Actor—who did all the VO for this episode: Zach Stinnett

Music Credits:

• Boulangerie by Jeremy Sherman, courtesy of NeoSounds: Boulangerie, LynneMusic | NeoSounds music library

Contact Me:

• [email protected]