AIG, AXA Battle in N.Y. Federal Court Over Umpire Selection Process

NEW YORK — American International Group and AXA Versicherung are embroiled in a heated battle over the appointment of an umpire to oversee the arbitration of a reinsurance dispute, with each party accusing the other of abrogating an agreed-upon umpire selection protocol.

AIG is urging the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to step in and appoint an umpire from its list of candidates and to order AXA’s counsel to pay AIG’s costs and attorneys’ fees as a sanction for “poisoning” the umpire selection process.

AXA counters that it is AIG and its counsel who …