Lawyers for World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein and 13 of the insurers who wrote coverage for the complex gave their opening statements Monday in the jury trial that will ultimately determine whether Silverstein gets $3.5 billion to rebuild the site or twice that amount.
The insurers are arguing that they provided coverage limited at $3.5 billion per occurrence under a policy form provided by Silverstein‘s insurance broker, Willis Group Holdings Ltd., that defines an occurrence as "one cause" or "one series of similar causes."
Silverstein claims another form, provided by one of the insurers, was operative at the time of the terrorist attacks. The "Travelers form," Silverstein is arguing, would define the attacks as two separate occurrences.
