WASHINGTON (AM Best News Service) — Starr International Co scored a procedural victory in its $25 billion class-action lawsuit against the federal government over the bailout given to American International Group during the financial crisis of 2008.

A federal judge in Washington rejected the federal government’s effort to get the lawsuit thrown out before it goes to trial next month.

In a brief August 25 order, Judge Thomas Wheeler of the US Court of Federal Claims denied the federal government’s request for summary judgment, saying there were too many disputed facts for the case to be decided without a trial.

“The sheer volume of material presented is a testament to the complexity of the issues before the court,” Wheeler said. “This is not a case where the parties have stipulated to an agreed set of facts and presented purely questions of law. The complexity of the submissions and the factual disagreements strongly point to the need for a trial.”

Starr filed the lawsuit on behalf of its shareholders in 2011, challenging AIG’s economic bailout and the government takeover of the company. At the time, Starr was one of AIG’s largest shareholders.

As part of the bailout, AIG was offered the $85 billion with a 14.5 percent annual interest rate as long as the federal government took control of AIG as controlling lender and shareholder.

As a result of the takeover, Starr lost its stock in AIG.

The lawsuit alleges the takeover constituted an illegal taking without just compensation that violated the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.

Starr also alleges the federal government imposed a “reverse stock split” on AIG’s shareholders, which had the effect of diluting stock ownership and gave the government 80 percent control of the voting stock.

Lawyers for the federal government have argued AIG agreed to the terms of the bailout. The government also alleges the company proposed the reverse stock split and the company’s shareholders agreed to the deal.

A six-week trial is scheduled to begin on September 29.

Efforts to reach a spokesman for Starr were not immediately successful.

Maurice (Hank) Greenberg, chairman and chief executive officer of CV Starr & Co, is a former chairman and CEO of AIG.

Earlier this year, the US Supreme Court denied Starr’s request to have the justices weigh in on a separate lawsuit filed against the Federal Reserve Board.

The justices denied Starr’s petition for a hearing in a brief note posted on the court’s website June 30. The justices did not give a reason for why the petition was denied. The decision not to hear the case leaves in place a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit that dismissed Starr’s claims against the New York Federal Reserve.

Starr sued the Fed to reimburse AIG shareholders billions of dollars they allegedly lost as a result of the bailout. Starr argued the Federal Reserve forced AIG to enter into bailout terms that allowed AIG to gain a line of credit from the federal government.

The Second Circuit rejected that claim, upholding a lower court’s decision to dismiss the case. By denying Starr’s petition for a hearing, the Supreme Court upheld the Second Circuit’s decision.