REUTERS:
WAL-MART Stores Inc. may pursue its fraud claim against AIG Life Insurance Co. and Hartford Life Insurance Co. that it suffered more than $100 million of losses from sham insurance policies, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled.
The decision, last Tuesday and posted on the court's website, reversed a Delaware Chancery Court ruling dismissing the world's largest retailer's complaint.
The case involves allegations that the insurers sold Wal-Mart policies it knew were flawed, without disclosing that the flaws jeopardised tax deductions that the retailer hoped to take.
Tuesday's decision rejected several Wal-Mart claims, but allowed the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer to pursue a fraud claim in the Chancery Court. It did not rule on that claim's merits.
"The complaint adequately pleads that (the defendants sold) a product that was an economic sham designed to create enormous tax deductions," Justice Carolyn Berger wrote.
AIG Life is a unit of New York-based American International Group Inc. Hartford Life is a unit of Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., which is based in Hartford, Connecticut.
