WTC Trial Jury Still Undecided After Three Weeks

NU Online News Service, Dec. 3, 4:15 p.m.EDT?Jurors deciding the second round of World Trade Centercoverage disputes, involving billions of dollars and multipleinsurers, ended their third week of deliberations today without averdict.[@@]

Today was the eleventh day of deliberations for the jury, nowconsisting of nine women and two men, after one juror was excusedfor personal reasons on Tuesday.

The jury must decide whether the terrorist attack on the TwinTowers on Sept. 11, 2001 constitutes one or two insuredoccurrences. The nine insurers in this round of trial argue thatthe event is a single insured occurrence, while WTC leaseholderLarry Silverstein says the attacks on Twin Towers constitute twodistinct insured occurrences.

In this round, Mr. Silverstein is pitted against nineinsurers--Allianz, Gulf, Industrial Risk Insurers, Royal Specialty,TIG, Travelers, Tokio Fire and Marine, Twin City, and ZurichAmerican.