News & Events

The National Law Journal has named Simpson Thacher's World Trade Center victory on behalf of Swiss Re one of the "Top Defense Wins of 2004" in its March 28, 2005 issue. Citing the work of Simpson Thacher litigation partners Barry R. Ostrager and Mary Kay Vyskocil, the publication states:

"Swiss Re made a critical strategic decision to seek trifurcation to focus the jury's energies on the legal dispute rather than the financial impact of the destruction. But the other six insurance companies that were fighting Silverstein in the same trial opposed trifurcation because with it came the burden of proof.

'We embraced the burden of proof,' Vyskocil said, 'because it meant we got to go first, and with that, we got the corollary benefit of controlling the order of witnesses . . . and telling the jury through the mouths of their witnesses.

That strategy paid off handsomely. After a 10-week trial, the jury decided that Swiss Re and the other six insurance companies were bound by the policy that limited their liability to a single occurrence."

Three insurers in the first phase of the trifurcated case lost. All the insurers in the second phase of the case lost.
 

Read more about Simpson Thacher's victory on behalf of Swiss Re:

New York Law Journal Ranks WTC Insurance Coverage Litigation Among "Top Cases of 2004"
 

Simpson Thacher Victorious on Behalf of Swiss Re in World Trade Center Case