AIG's complaint intensifies a dispute over who pays the bill for state insurance programs that compensate injured workers. AIG's rivals participated in a national group that sued in May, saying the insurer owed more than $1 billion tied to underpayments. AIG filed a third-party complaint last week, naming the competitors.
The companies "embarked on a single-minded conspiratorial campaign to inflict maximum financial and reputational injury on AIG,'' the New York-based insurer said in a court filing. "A number of these companies had engaged in the very same or similar practices that had been alleged against AIG.''
In most states, companies that sell workers' compensation insurance must fund pools that serve as insurers of last resort to cover worker injuries at employers that pose unattractive risks. AIG agreed in 2006 to fund a $301 million program after then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer accused AIG of underreporting premiums used to calculate contributions.
The settlement fund covers underpayment from 1985 to 1996. The national group, representing 600 insurers working in 40 states, said AIG underpaid for 35 years. AIG also agreed to pay about $42 million in taxes related to workers' compensation as part of the 2006 accord.
Chris Winans, spokesman for AIG, declined to comment.
Richard Angevine, spokesman for Liberty Mutual, had no immediate comment. Liberty Mutual, based in Boston, ranked second last year behind AIG in U.S. workers' compensation sales, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Michael Moran, a spokesman for Hartford, based in the Connecticut city of the same name, also declined to comment.
Marlene Ibsen, spokeswoman for St. Paul, Minnesota-based Travelers, and Rowe Snider, a lawyer in Chicago representing the National Workers Compensation Reinsurance Pool, didn't return calls.