United States Second Circuit

Under the definition of "occurrence" in the insurance policy form circulated by plaintiffs' insurance broker, the destruction of the World Trade Center was one occurrence as a matter of law.

Appellate Information

• Argued 07/22/2003
• Decided 09/26/2003
• Published 09/26/2003

Judges

• JOHN M. WALKER, JR., Chief Judge., Before:  WALKER, Chief Judge, CABRANES and POOLER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of the State of New York (Caitlin J. Halligan, Solicitor General, Michelle Aronowitz, Deputy Solicitor General, Deon J. Nossel, Assistant Solicitor General, of counsel), New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae The Attorney General of the State of New York in Support of Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Herbert M. Wachtell, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (Proskauer Rose LLP (John H. Gross and Seth B. Schafler), and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (Eric M. Roth, Marc Wolinsky, Barbara Robbins, Ben M. Germana, Elaine P. Golin, Jed I. Bergman, Edward J.W. Blatnik, Ian Boczko, and Kenneth K. Lee), on the brief), New York, NY, for Defendants-Counter-Claimants-Counter-Defendants-Appellants-Cross-Appellees World Trade Center Properties, L.L.C., Silverstein Properties, Inc., Silverstein WTC Management Co., L.L.C., 1 World Trade Center, L.L.C., 2 World Trade Center, L.L.C., 4 World Trade Center, L.L.C, and 5 World Trade Center, L.L.C., Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (Timothy G. Reynolds and Arthur F. Fama, Jr.) and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Milton H. Pachter, Megan Lee, and Timothy G. Stickelman), New York, NY, for Defendants-Counter-Claimants-Counter-Defendants-Appellants-Cross-Appellees Port Authority of New York and New Jersey., Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw (Philip Allen Lacovara, Ryan P. Farley, Peter K. Rosen, and David C. Bolstad), New York, N.Y. & Los Angeles, CA, for Defendants-Counter-Claimants-Counter-Defendants-Appellants-Cross-Appellees Westfield WTC, L.L.C., Westfield Corporation, Inc., and Westfield America, Inc., Harvey Kurzweil, Dewey Ballantine LLP (Alan R. Miller, Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi LLP, Boston, MA, Saul P. Morgenstern, Robert J. Morrow, Paul T. Olszowka, and Nora M. Puckett, Dewey Ballantine LLP, on the brief), New York, NY, for Counter-Defendant-Appellee Travelers Indemnity Company., William J. Bowman, Hogan & Hartson LLP (John G. Roberts, Jr., Patrick F. Hofer, Paula P. Skalaban, and Joshua D. Weinberg, on the brief), Washington, DC, for Counter-Defendant-Appellee Hartford Fire Insurance Company., Michael H. Barr, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (Sandra D. Hauser, Michael S. Gugig, Steven L. Brodsky, Stephen C. McDougall, on the brief), New York, NY, for Counter-Defendant-Appellee Royal Indemnity Company., Charles Fried (Shaw Pittman LLP, Lon A. Berk, Walter J. Andrews, Michael S. Levine, Mary K. Martin, McLean, VA, on the brief), Cambridge, MA, for Counter-Defendant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe LLP (Nancy Sher Cohen, Stephen N. Goldberg, and John C. Ulin, on the brief), New York, NY, for Defendants-Counter-Claimants-Counter-Defendants-Cross-Appellees GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corporation and Wells Fargo Bank Minnesota, N.A., Covington & Burling (Mitchell F. Dolin, Neil K. Roman, Richard A. Beckmann, on the brief), Washington, DC, for Defendants-Counter-Claimants-Counter-Defendants-Cross-Appellees UBS Warburg Real Estate Investments Inc., Barry R. Ostrager, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (Mary Kay Vyskocil, Michael J. Garvey, Tyler B. Robinson, and Michael C. Ledley, on the brief), New York, NY, for Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant-Intervenor SR International Business Insurance Co., Ltd., Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP (David Boies, Edward Normand), Armonk, NY;  Ropes & Gray (Kenneth W. Erickson, Robert A. Skinner, John C. Demers;  Paul B. Galvani), Boston, MA and New York, NY;  Cozen O'Connor (Stephen A. Cozen, Jay M. Levin), Philadelphia, PA;  Mound, Cotton, Wollan & Greengrass (Stuart Cotton), New York, NY;  Robinson & Cole LLP (Gregory J. Ligelis), Stamford, CT;  Budd, Larner, Gross, Rosenbaum, Greenberg & Sade P.C. (Christopher S. Finazzo), Short Hills, NJ;  Mendes & Mount LLP (Leo W. Fraser III), New York, NY, for Amici Curiae Certain Counterclaim Defendants in Support of Affirmance and in Support of Travelers Indemnity Company.