Ruling Limits Payment for WTC Leaseholder

World Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein suffered a court defeat that means he won’t get his $3.5-billion insurance policy paid twice over.

In a partial verdict, a federal jury found that the majority of the insurers, who hold more than $1 billion of the policy, are bound by a form that defined the Sept. 11 attacks as one event.

It was the first of at least two trials that will ultimately decide how much insurance money will be available to rebuild ground zero.

Silverstein has waged a court battle since shortly after Sept. 11 to have the destruction of the trade center declared two separate events, which would entitle him to two payouts of the policy he was still negotiating when the towers fell.