district court to enforce rights under such policies. This legislation has been introduced by a bipartisan group of Senators and House Members to restore the rights of Holocaust survivors and heirs of Holocaust victims to go to U.S. courts to recover insurance policies sold to Jews before the Holocaust that the insurers never – to this day -- honored. Federal courts have held that it is against Am
erican foreign policy to allow survivors and family members to be allowed to hold the these insurers – Allianz, Generali, AXA, Swiss Re, Swiss Life, Basler, Zurich, Munich Re, Victoria, RAS, and others – accountable in U.S. The courts have said the International Commission for Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (ICHEIC) should be survivors’ sole and exclusive remedy – even though it was deeply flawed. This is a legally and morally intolerable situation. The courts did say, however, that Congress has the authority to fix this problem, and that is what this legislation would do. The Congressional Research Service has concluded that there are several billions of dollars worth of such policies that the insurers have not honored. Insurance policies are contracts, and global insurers should not inherit funds purchased by European Jews to help their families in time of crisis. The companies should be required to publish their lists of policy holder names, and survivors, and the living heirs of Holocaust victims, should have the opportunity to present their claims in U.S. The legislation has the following provisions: An insurance policy covered under this bill must have been (1) in effect at any time between January 31, 1933, and December 31, 1945, and (2) issued to a policyholder domiciled in Nazi-controlled territory or Switzerland. A court shall award to a prevailing beneficiary (1) the amount due under a policy, (2) prejudgment interest of 6% a year, (3) attorney's fees and costs, and (4) treble damages if the insurer acted in bad faith. An action under this bill or state law related to a covered insurance policy shall be considered timely if filed within 10 years of this bill's enactment. Judgments and agreements entered before this bill's enactment shall not preclude a claim brought under the bill, with certain exceptions. Neither executive agreements between the United States and a foreign government nor U.S. executive foreign policies shall (1) affect or preclude claims brought under this bill, or (2) supersede or preempt any state laws relating to insurance policies covered by this bill. If a person received a $1,000 “humanitarian payment” from the ICHEIC commission, that person would be allowed to bring a claim on their family’s policy if this legislation is enacted. Only people who accepted an actual settlement of their claim through ICHEIC (usually between $5,000 and $10,000), or directly with a company, and signed a release, would be excluded from the benefits of this law. This bill is in the first stage of the legislative process. It was introduced into Congress Senate on October 17, 2019 and into Congress on November 22, 2019. It will typically be considered by committee next before it is possibly sent on to the House or Senate as a whole.
