World Trade Centre (WTC) leaseholder Larry Silverstein has had a very small victory in his ongoing battle against the insurance industry. His mortgage insurers have advanced him $28 million to help him pay his $14.2 million monthly rental on the WTC site.

In the meantime, he must wait for an appeals court in New York to hear his claim that the September 11 attack/s on the World Trade Centre was/were two separate events. A District Court judge has already ruled that it was one event, which would limit the payout by a consortium of 24 insurers led by Swiss Re to $9.9 billion. Mr Silverstein is looking for double that. 

Discreet jockeying for advantage goes on, with Swiss Re and spokesmen for Mr Silverstein putting out plenty of opinions on their chances of success. While it’s still not a clear-cut case, US legal analysts say the fact that several insurers signed a proposal used by Mr Silverstein’s broker, Willis, is pivotal to the insurers’ case. The “Wilprop” form confined payment to “one occurrence”.