A federal appeals court affirmed two jury verdicts in the World Trade Center property insurance case, leaving a maximum payout of $4.6 billion toward the redevelopment of Manhattan’s Ground Zero.

The ruling requires Swiss Reinsurance Co., a Lloyds of London syndicate and seven other insurers to treat the Sept. 11 terror attack as a single total loss claim, and pay trade center leaseholder Larry Silverstein accordingly. St. Paul Travelers Cos., Allianz SE and seven other insurers will be required to pay Silverstein on a two-loss basis, or up to twice the limit on their policies, because under their policies, each plane counted as a separate attack. The verdicts are the result of differently worded policies that each insurer used when agreeing to underwrite Silverstein's $3.2 billion lease of the trade center, weeks before the towers were destroyed. Both sides claimed U.S. District Court Judge Michael Mukasey erred in his handling of the two 2004 trials, and sought reversals of his rulings. ``These forms were designed with different interests in mind and, not surprisingly, yielded different results,'' wrote Judge John Walker for the unanimous appeals court in New York. ``Chief Judge Mukasey did a masterful job shepherding this complex, hotly contested case through both phases of a lengthy jury trial.''

A federal appeals court affirmed two jury verdicts in the World Trade Center property insurance case, leaving a maximum payout of $4.6 billion toward the redevelopment of Manhattan’s Ground Zero.

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