NEW YORK (Reuters) -- American Airlines Group Inc. has agreed to pay $135 million to Cantor Fitzgerald to settle the financial services company's lawsuit over business and property losses suffered in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, in which 658 of its employees were killed.

The settlement, which requires approval from U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, averts a trial that had been scheduled to begin next month and ends what was the final major piece of litigation against U.S. airlines stemming from the 2001 attacks.
John Stoviak, a lawyer for Cantor, disclosed the terms of the settlement at a hearing on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York before Hellerstein, who will consider approval at a hearing on Jan. 13.
Hellerstein, who has overseen much of the litigation related to the Sept. 11 attacks, took Tuesday's brief hearing as an opportunity to reflect upon more than a decade of lawsuits. Questions like how the United States should prevent attacks or whether there was negligence involved, he said, may never be fully answered.
American Airlines