Case Caption: In re Transatlantic Holdings, Inc. v. American Int’l Grp. Inc.
Case Number: 50 148 T 00376 10
Court: American Arbitration Association
Judge: N/A
Plaintiffs: Transatlantic Holdings, Inc., Transatlantic Reinsurance Company, and Trans Re Zurich Reinsurance Company Ltd.
Defendants: American International Group, Inc., AIG Securities Lending Corp., and AIG Securities Lending (Ireland) Ltd.
Overview: Kessler Topaz served as counsel for Transatlantic Holdings, Inc., (“TRH”), a publicly traded company, alleging that American International Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries (“AIG”) breached their fiduciary duties, contractual duties, and committed fraud in connection with the administration of its securities lending program. Until June 2009, AIG was TRH’s majority shareholder and also administered TRH’s securities lending program. TRH’s Statement of Claim alleged that, among other things, AIG breached its fiduciary obligations as investment advisor and majority shareholder by imprudently investing the majority of the cash collateral obtained under its securities lending program in mortgage backed securities, including Alt-A and subprime investments.
In addition, the Statement of Claim further alleged that AIG concealed the extent of TRH’s subprime exposure and, that when the collateral pools began experiencing liquidity problems in 2007, AIG unilaterally carved TRH out of the pools so that it could provide funding to certain wholly owned subsidiaries to the exclusion of TRH. The matter was litigated for several years, including extensive fact and expert discovery, and ultimately through a binding arbitration where TRH was awarded $75 million.