The World Trade Centre's leaseholder, Larry Silverstein, could see his billion-dollar dispute with Swiss Re resolved as early as June, the Financial Times has reported.
In a court hearing in New York on Friday, a judge ruled that witnesses for both sides had to have their depositions taken by 30 April 2001. Lawyers for Silverstein would then hope to ask for a summary judgment in the case, so bypassing a jury trial, the newspaper's online edition said.
That could mean a judgment within a month. Silverstein had wanted depositions to be finished earlier, but the judge said that since the amounts involved were so large, Swiss Re was entitled to call a few witnesses.
The timetable is still much shorter than that requested by Swiss Re's lawyers, whom Silverstein's side accused of trying to delay the judgment for as long as possible. The insurer says the incidents of 11 September were part of the same act of terrorism and only one claim can be made.
Swiss Re, which has the largest liability in the 22-insurer consortium that issued a policy on the buildings, is trying to cap total losses at $3.56bn (£2.45bn), the maximum agreed size of one claim.
Silverstein is hoping to make two claims, and recover over $7bn (£4.8bn), because two aircraft were flown into separate buildings. Swiss Re is liable for 22% of the coverage.
Silverstein Properties bought the lease on the twin towers and the other buildings in the complex, along with Westfield America, for $3.2bn (£2.2bn) last July.
Swiss Re's lawyers, who at the end of October had asked for a fast declaratory judgment in the case, told the judge that it would take at least six months to depose all their witnesses.
They said at first there would be "at least a dozen" to depose. After further questioning about how long that would take, Swiss Re adjusted the witness number to 15-16, and later increased that to at least 18.
