Shareholder sues AIG over U.S. government bailout

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A shareholder claimed in a lawsuit that American International Group (AIG.N) violated her rights by accepting the U.S. government's $85 billion bailout in September in exchange for a majority stake in the insurer.

Investor Wilma Walker said in a complaint filed in Delaware Chancery Court in Wilmington on Tuesday that the board of directors of New York-based AIG broke Delaware corporate law.

The board refused to allow shareholders to vote on a part of the bailout proposal that gives a 79.9 percent stake to the government in the deal, according to the complaint provided by her law firm.

The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, described the September 16 transaction as one of "unprecedented size, structure and speed" for AIG to transfer control of the company from its public shareholders to the government in order to obtain an $85 billion loan from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

"Absent judicial intervention, the transaction approved by AIG's Board will be crammed down on the company's stockholders in violation of basic principles of corporate law," the complaint by the New York City resident said.

Representatives of AIG could not be reached for comment.

AIG, crippled by losses and mounting mortgage debt, was facing bankruptcy before the federal bailout.

(Reporting by Grant McCool, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)