In any sane legal system this suit would be tossed immediately and the plaintif’s lawyers disbarred for wasting the court’s time. AIG is the insurer that the US government spent $182 billion bailing out because there was absolutely no way that it could possibly meet its obligations. Bloomberg:

Greenberg’s Starr International Co. sued the government Nov. 21, calling the public assumption of 80 percent of stock in the insurer in 2008 an unconstitutional “taking” of property that requires $25 billion in compensation.

The correct amount of compensation for AIG shareholders was zero. Allowing them to keep 20% of a bankrupt company after the government bailed it out with $182 billion was a farce.

Greenberg’s firm is represented by David Boies, a lawyer who has made a career out of losing high profile cases with tenuous legal arguments. He lost Napster, SCO and the Florida recount. He did get a district court to declare Microsoft a monopoly, but only after the judge had shown such a remarkable degree of incompetence and bias that the decision was thrown out by the Appeals court.

Note from John: I’d be remiss not to mention that Boies has done an amazing job fighting the Prop 8 case in court, including this delicious destruction of the head of the hate group Famiky Research Council, Tony Perkins, on Face the Nation a while back.