WTC 'event' trial

The thorny question of whether the destruction of the World Trade Centre was one event or two will be decided by a jury.

A New York judge this week referred the case to a trial on 3 September.

The jury will decide if the tragedy was one insured event, covered for a total of $3.55bn (£2.4bn), or two separate insured events worth £7.1bn (£4.9bn) as contended by leaseholder Larry Silverstein.

Swiss Re, which holds 22% of the liability, contends it was working on the basis of a Willis form. Its wording would appear to treat the two plane crashes as one event.

Silverstein argues that coverage was agreed under a Travelers form, which did not define "occurrence".