Remember that “audacious” case filed in the Court of Federal Claims by überlawyer David Boies on behalf of Starr International seeking $35 billion in just compensation for the federal takeover of AIG?
Well, it’s moving along, and apparently is in discovery (every lawyer’s favorite part of the case). Boies sought the deposition testimony of Fed Chair Ben Bernanke about his “personal involvement in the Government’s decision to bail out American International Group, Inc. (‘AIG’) in September 2008, and his knowledge of the specific governmental actions taken to implement the bailout.” Mr. Bernanke didn’t want to testify, claiming that as a “high-level government official,” the plaintiffs had to show that the information sought was not merely relevant under the usual discovery rules, but essential to the case, not not obtainable elsewhere. I’ve got better things to do, so stop bothering me and get this information from someone else, argued Bernanke.
The CFC didn’t see it that way, and in this order held that the practice is “relatively routine” in the CFC which, after all, is the court where “private citizens … sue the federal government for monetary redress.” Order at 3. Mr. Bernanke should not be surprised, as it “is unremarkable that high-level government officials will play a role in the litigation.”
– See more at:
In re United States, No. 13-163 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 16, 2013)