AA Insurer must liquidate to pay debt

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Aug 20, 2002
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Insur Co Owing $140M To American Air Ordered To Liquidate


PHILADELPHIA (AP)--A financially troubled insurance company owing $140 million to American Airlines for claims from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks must liquidate, a judge has ordered.
Legion Insurance Co., based in Philadelphia, hasn''t paid $140 million to American Airlines. The money is Legion''s portion of a $4.5 billion reserve established by insurers to cover claims stemming from three crashes involving American jetliners.
One crash was into the World Trade Center and another into the Pentagon, both on Sept. 11, 2001; a third was in Queens, N.Y., two months later.
American and other major Legion policyholders can seek payments directly from reinsurers, such as Lloyds of London, rather than waiting for the state to collect during liquidation, according to the ruling handed down last week by Commonwealth Court Judge Hannah Mary Leavitt.
It means that instead of waiting 10 to 20 years to get their $140 million, they will get it ... as the claims come in, Jay H. Calvert Jr., a lawyer representing American Airlines, said Monday.
Legion also insured cities, towns and school districts nationwide, which were left to find other coverage after the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance took over the company and its smaller Villanova Insurance Co. affiliate last year.
Both companies were part of Legion Insurance Group, which employed about 500 people in Philadelphia and Milwaukee and had $1.3 billion in assets.

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