A judge ruled yesterday that the World Trade Center leaseholder, Larry Silverstein, cannot force insurance companies to pay his legal fees related to litigation stemming from the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

A U.S. district judge, Alvin Hellerstein, said it would be unjust for Mr. Silverstein to make the companies pay his defense costs when all but one of more than a dozen companies had made it clear in their policies that they would not cover the costs. Judge Hellerstein, who is considering some 3,000 lawsuits related to the attacks, wrote that he had made a similar ruling once before.

“There is no time for further delay in this insurance litigation,” he wrote, adding that it was Mr. Silverstein’s second attempt to get the companies to cover defense costs that he had not been granted during negotiations.

A spokesman for Silverstein Properties Incorporated, Dara McQuillan, said: “We are disappointed in the decision and we think it’s wrong. However, this decision will have no impact on the WTC rebuilding effort.”

Lawyers for Mr. Silverstein had argued that the language in policies could be interpreted to mean that the companies intended to pay defense costs.

Judge Hellerstein rejected that argument and others made by the defense, saying a full presentation of documents by both sides had provided “indisputable evidence” that the insurers did not intend to pay the costs.

Judge Hellerstein said he was “unwilling to … rewrite the policies to include coverage for defense costs.”

Judge Hellerstein said the evidence was particularly strong that the lead insurer – Zurich American Insurance Company – did not intend to cover defense costs.

“To now impose a defense obligation would give a windfall to Silverstein and subject Zurich to a liability that it was unable to calculate or prepare for by an appropriate premium, and thus would work a manifest injustice,” he said.