World Trade Centre (WTC) leaseholder Larry Silverstein is licking his wounds this week, having substantially failed to win his 30-month battle with insurers for a bigger – like double – payout after the September 11 attacks.

Mr Silverstein had not completed his arrangements with a consortium of insurers led by Swiss Re by September 11 2001, so the court case has been involved with seeing who covered the WTC, and for how much.

After a trial that has reportedly cost in the region of $1.3 billion, a New York jury found most of the insurers were parties to a proposal drawn up by Mr Silverstein’s broker, Willis, which defined the attacks as a single event for insurance purposes. They went back into a huddle for several days before deciding last week that Swiss Re had also had no intention of insuring for more than one event.

Only four of the 12 insurers were found to not be bound by the “Wilprop” form, and their cases will continue to further court hearings.

Despite losing so heavily, Mr Silverstein remains optimistic that he can still build the “Freedom Tower” on the WTC site. He says several buildings are already being built around the WTC site, and the Freedom Tower – the world’s tallest structure – “will be completed as scheduled in 2009”.

“Of course I am disappointed by the court result,” he said in a statement. “But let me be clear. A defeat in the courtroom is not a defeat for rebuilding. Whatever happens in court, we are determined to rebuild the World Trade Centre.”