Sept. 11 Echos as Lawsuit Roils Aviation Insurance Sector

摘要

Burlington, North Carolina―Not long after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a small army of auditors showed up at a nondescript brick building in this sleepy textile town. Hauling in nine photocopiers, they began sifting the records of Fortress Re Inc., an insurance company. Though little known in its hometown, Fortress was a bold player in the high-risk world of aviation reinsurance. As an agent for three large Japanese reinsurers, Fortress was a leading seller of policies that covered big chunks of the losses in many aviation catastrophes. For 24 consecutive years, Fortress reported to the Japanese insurers that the business it did for them was profitable. When 3,000 lives, four jumbo jets and the twin towers of the World Trade Center were lost on Sept. 11, alarms went off in, Tokyo. Concerned about their exposure, two of the insurers sent in their own auditors to look at Fortress's books. What they found has triggered a financial meltdown, pushing one of the insurers into bankruptcy court and prompting Fortress to halt new business. It also has spawned an international legal battle over who ultimately will pay an estimated $2.5 billion in claims from Sept. 11 and many other air disasters dating to 1998.