All the other airlines are really glad they’re not American or United right now. Both American Airlines and United Continental Holdings Inc. are going to trial to face claims relating to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled yesterday.
World Trade Center Properties LLC (WTCP) accused the airlines of negligence, saying it was their fault the terrorists were able to board and hijack the aircraft, leading to the destruction of the World Trade Center. The company sought $8.4 billion in damages, its estimation of the cost to reconstruct the towers. The airlines denied they were negligent, and claimed that since WTCP already received $4.091 billion in insurance, the case should not go to trial.
Hellerstein said he was unable to determine for sure whether those insurance payments covered the damages sought by WTCP, though he did limit the value of the towers to $2.805 billion, the amount WTCP paid for its 99-year leases on the buildings.
Read more at Thomson Reuters.
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