Lawyers for AIG, Greenberg’s firm in court dispute
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Lawyers for insurer American
International Group Inc. and a firm headed by its former chief
executive, C.V. Starr & Co., appeared in a New York state court
on Monday, arguing over whether they were improperly trying to
keep each other from conducting business.
The dispute escalates a battle between AIG and Maurice
“Hank” Greenberg, who was forced to retire from the world’s
largest insurer last spring amid federal and state
investigations into the company’s accounting practices.
C.V. Starr, started by AIG founder Cornelius Vander Starr,
is an insurance broker and underwriter that does much of its
business with AIG but also sells policies underwritten by other
companies.
“It’s clear that what is going on is AIG is trying to shut
down the Starr agencies as competitors, and that AIG is willing
to take positions in court that are inconsistent with written
contracts, and internally inconsistent,” David Boies, lawyer
for C.V. Starr, told reporters outside the courtroom.
AIG was not immediately available to comment.
AIG on Friday sued Greenberg’s Starr Technical Risks Agency
Inc., a unit of C.V Starr & Co., accusing it of trying to
siphon business from AIG without authorization.
One such unauthorized reinsurance arrangement, AIG said,
was with National Indemnity Co., a unit of billionaire Warren
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc..
Bermuda-based Starr countersued, accusing AIG of
maliciously plotting to steal or destroy its business and
prevent it from competing.
Starr Technical is one of four Starr brokerage agencies.
Starr has sold insurance in AIG’s name since 1992.
This is not the first court battle between AIG and Starr.
Last September AIG sued Starr International, a private
company headed by Greenberg, for control of about $18 billion
worth of AIG shares. Starr International countersued.
The court action comes as New York-based AIG and Greenberg
battle to unwind ties between the insurer, which he headed for
nearly four decades, and Starr.