A lawsuit filed in Missouri seeks $3 billion in damages from the law firm that represented General American Life Insurance Co., the state’s largest life insurer and at one point, one of the largest in the nation.

Albert Riederer

The suit was filed by the Missouri Department of Insurance and Albert Riederer, special deputy liquidator of General American, according to the Kansas City Star. Riederer recently served as overseer of Brooke Insurance, another Missouri-based insurer that fell into difficulty last year.

In 1999, General American folded after a credit-rating downgrade led to a massive run on the Missouri company, according to the report.

The suit accused New York-based Dewey & LeBoeuf, which represented the life insurer and, according to the suit, misadvised General American by suggesting it seek administrative supervision. The suit also alleges the law firm recommended General American’s sale for the “substantially discounted price of $1.2 billion” to Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., which Dewey & LeBoeuf represented after the sale, according to the Star.

In a statement to the newspaper, the law firm said it “categorically rejects” the allegations of the suit, which makes “profoundly erroneous misstatements of fact and is little more than a misguided attempt by a liquidator to attract media attention.”

Also named in the suit is Richard Liddy, former General American president and chief executive, who is accused of omitting pertinent information about the insurer’s portfolio of “guaranteed investment contracts,” leading to the run on the company.