In the recent court battle between the two companies, AIG accused Starr of trying to steal business using longstanding relationships developed when Starr and the company were seen essentially as one unit.

Starr has sought to enter into insurance and reinsurance agreements on behalf of its clients with companies other than AIG, including National Indemnity Company, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway.

On Monday Judge Cahn issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Starr from going after existing AIG business, but allowed the agency to seek new clients for NICO insurance.

Yesterday Judge Cahn kept that order in place along with one that bars AIG from preventing Starr employees from entering offices that are housed within AIG premises in Atlanta.

The proceedings, which have already seen AIG call a Starr unit a "rogue agent" and Starr accuse AIG of trying to destroy the business, were not without some acrimony in the courtroom yesterday.

Tempers flared as Starr attorney David Boies and his AIG counterpart, Michael Carlinksy, both based in New York City law firms, parsed the unique nature of the relationship between AIG and Starr and the consequences of the split of the once inseparable entities.

Mr. Boies took particular exception to Mr. Carlinsky's claim that somehow Starr representatives were still feigning a relationship with AIG.

"Nobody who has read the papers in the past couple of weeks believes the Starr agencies and AIG are one now," he said. Mr. Carlinsky, for his part, was frequently gesticulating and red-faced during the course of the arguments.