The Legal Odds Are Shifting in the A.I.G. Case
WASHINGTON — When David Boies delivers his closing arguments on Wednesday in a case that pits Maurice Greenberg against the federal government over the 2008 bailout of American International Group, he will have already achieved something that few had thought possible: a chance to win.
In 2011, when Mr. Greenberg filed his lawsuit, arguing that the government lifeline, which ultimately totaled $182 billion, had shortchanged A.I.G. shareholders, the case seemed unpromising at best. “Chutzpah,” several lawmakers had called it. Government lawyers described Mr. Greenberg as an “ingrate.”
Carl Tobias, a law professor and litigation expert at the University of Richmond, said the A.I.G. case had been widely seen as one that “really bordered on frivolous.” Referring to Mr. Boies, he said, “People couldn’t imagine how he could put together a legal theory that would really work.”
But as the trial unfolded in the fall in the United States Court of Federal Claims, Mr. Tobias said, the consensus among legal experts began to shift.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/business/dealbook/the-legal-odds-are-shifting-in-the-aig-case.html
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