Some court battles between insurer American International Group and C.V. Starr & Company–controlled by AIG's former chairman, Maurice Greenberg–have been concluded, but the war between the two firms is not over yet.
A joint statement last week from the two companies, both with offices in New York, said they reached a settlement of “disputes over the termination of the managing general agency relationships” between their respective subsidiaries, as well as the use of the “Starr” and “American International” trademarks.
“As a result of the settlement, the terms of which are confidential, AIG shall refrain from conducting business under the 'Starr' and related names, and C.V. Starr shall refrain from conducting business under the 'AI,' 'American International' and related names,” the firms said.
The settlement involved 18 different court actions and arbitrations, and included cases in both Manhattan Federal Court and New York Supreme Court, a county level tribunal, as well as lawsuits in Georgia and Delaware.
The settlement does not resolve issues between AIG and other entities under Mr. Greenberg's control–notably Starr International Company, with offices in Dublin and Bermuda, which controls 12 percent of AIG stock.
AIG, in court papers last year, said Starr share assets in the past were used to provide deferred compensation to AIG's top management and longtime employees. AIG, in its action, said Starr had indicated it intended to discontinue the deferred compensation program and use 270 million of its 290 million AIG shares for the benefit of its directors, officers and others.
Before last week's announcement, during the bitter battle between C.V. Starr and AIG, Starr at one point accused AIG of stealing information, employee poaching and other wrongdoing in an attempt to derail the Starr agencies' efforts to break away from AIG insurers.
Starr brokerage and managing general agent operations were once intertwined with AIG, but began an acrimonious separation after Mr. Greenberg was ousted last year during a New York investigation of accounting and other irregularities at AIG.
The probe led AIG to agree to a $1.64 billion settlement. Mr. Greenberg is now the chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr & Company.
AIG's settlement disposed of civil fraud charges brought by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Mr. Greenberg, who remains a defendant in that case, is contesting the charges.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
