Airlines may have to pay Silverstein $3.5B for WTC after all

Second Circuit reverses previous action limiting possible compensation to $2.8B

Larry Silverstein
A rendering of the new World Trade Center (inset: Larry Silverstein)

The 14th anniversary of Sept. 11 is just behind us, but much still lies ahead in Larry Silverstein’s legal fight for compensation.

A three-judge Second Circuit Court panel reversed a previous judgement that would have limited Silverstein’s possible reward to $2.8 billion, rather than the $3.5 billion he sought in his action against U.S. Airways.

The panel ruled that a lower court had miscalculated the decline in the World Trade Center’s value, and had used the wrong interest rate, the federal funds rate rather than the state rate. The court also refused to revive Silverstein’s claims against United Airlines, which co-operated the security checkpoint through which the 9/11 terrorists passed, Courthouse News reported.

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Silverstein purchased the leases on the World Trade Center just six weeks before the attacks. He’s already received $4.6 billion in compensation from insurance companies, back in 2007.

Last week, The Real Deal looked at the extent to which the Financial District has recovered from the disaster. [Courthouse News]Ariel Stulberg