Deutsche Bank Sues Insurers

NEW YORK CITY-Deutsche Bank has filed papers in New York State Supreme Court asking the court to determine whether 130 Liberty St. should be demolished, then replaced. The 41-story vacant building was structurally damaged when World Trade Center towers collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001.

The German banking conglomerate is suing Allianz Insurance Co., Axa Corporate Solutions Insurance Co. and Axa Global Risks US Insurance Co., which provided 50% of the building’s insurance coverage. Earlier this year, Deutsche reached an out-of-court settlement with the building’s two other insurers, Chubb Corp. and Zurich Financial Services.

The suit requests declaratory judgment from the court that it is not reasonably feasible to repair the building and that Allianz and Axa are obligated to cover their portion of the costs associated with replacing the building, including the cost of a safe and environmentally-responsible demolition of the building. Allianz did not respond to e-mails and AXA was unavailable to comment.

This is added to the list of the numerous legal actions associated with the rebuilding of the Ground Zero site. Silverstein Properties filed suit against Industrial Risk Insurers, the Connecticut-based insurance unit of General Electric, to compel IRI to fully satisfy its obligation to pay for the reconstruction of 7 World Trade Center. That suit was filed as a claim in a pending suit that brought by a former tenant of 7 World Trade Center against IRI. At the end of July, oral arguments were heard before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Silverstein’s appeal from a ruling that a jury would have to decide whether the deliberate crashes of two planes into the Twin Towers constitute one or two “occurrences” for purposes of the $3.55 billion “per occurrence” insurance policy on portions of the complex. A decision has not yet been issued on that appeal.