World Trade Center Litigation

In April 2001, corporations formed by Larry Silverstein and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey entered 99-year leases for Towers One, Two, Four and Five of the World Trade Center. The consideration paid by Silverstein to the Port Authority in a competitive auction was valued at $2.805 billion. Pursuant to the destruction of these buildings on September 11, 2001, Silverstein’s company, World Trade Center Properties LLC, and several holding companies filed suit against American Airlines Inc., United Air Lines Inc., Boeing and other defendants seeking over $16 billion in damages. Counsel for the aviation defendants, assisted by Compass Lexecon experts Daniel R. Fischel, Rajiv Gokhale, and others in Compass Lexecon’s Chicago office, filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that Silverstein’s damage claim was implausible and the correct benchmark for damages was the market value of the four towers as of September 11, 2001. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein reached the same conclusion in a series of rulings rejecting Silverstein’s $16 billion damage claim. Professor Fischel has now also made several presentations on damages to a mediator in the next phase of the case against the subrogated insurers. We are working with Brian Fraser and Neil Binder of Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP, Roger Podesta and Maura Monaghan of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, and Robert Atkins of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, among others.