NEW YORK (A. M. Best via COMTEX) - The battle over a large block of American International Group Inc. stock between AIG and the man who built it into an insurance giant before being forced out, Maurice (Hank) Greenberg, is scheduled for trial in a New York federal court next month.

A March 2 trial date is set for competing lawsuits between AIG and Greenberg's Starr International Co (SICO). The legal battle began shortly after Greenberg left AIG during an accounting scandal in 2005. SICO initially sued AIG to reclaim what it said was artwork that it owned but that was in AIG's possession. AIG countersued over control of the stock.

SICO, which had been controlled by AIG during Greenberg's tenure as chief executive, held the stock in what AIG claimed was a trust primarily designed to fund executive compensation plans. AIG claimed Greenberg engineered a takeover of the SICO board and violated SICO's fiduciary responsibility for the trust. SICO maintains that it owns the stock and AIG has no claim to it.

In court documents, AIG said SICO has been using the stock to fund capital acquisitions, establish a charitable foundation and "in the most disloyal act of all" has entered into insurance businesses in competition with AIG.