Judge Blocks 9/11 Claims Against Airlines

Owners of World Trade Center cannot demand more money from their insurance companies

The owners of the World Trade Center cannot demand billions of dollars more in insurance money for the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal judge decided Thursday.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled after listening to witnesses for the trade center owners and for the airlines linked to the planes that were hijacked in the attacks. The trial was arranged to decide whether the owners of the trade center complex can collect more than the nearly $5 billion they've already received toward reconstruction.

Lawyers for the airlines argued that the claims made against them duplicate claims that have already been paid by insurance companies.