[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 890 Introduced in House (IH)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 890
To allow for the enforcement of State disclosure laws and access to
courts for covered Holocaust-era insurance policy claims.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 2, 2011
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself and Mr. Deutch) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in
addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To allow for the enforcement of State disclosure laws and access to
courts for covered Holocaust-era insurance policy claims.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Holocaust Insurance Accountability
Act of 2011''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Holocaust, an event in which millions of people
endured enormous suffering through torture and other violence,
including the murder of 6,000,000 Jews and millions of others,
the destruction of families and communities, and the theft of
their assets, was one of the most heinous crimes in human
history.
(2) Before and during World War II, millions of people
purchased insurance policies to safeguard family assets, plan
for retirement, provide for a dowry, or save for their
children's education.
(3) When Holocaust survivors and heirs and beneficiaries of
Holocaust victims presented claims to insurance companies after
World War II, many were rejected because they did not have
death certificates or physical possession of policy documents
that had been confiscated by the Nazis or lost in the
devastation of the Holocaust.
(4) In many instances, insurance company records and
records in government archives are the only proof of the
existence of insurance policies belonging to Holocaust victims.
(5) Holocaust survivors and heirs and beneficiaries of
Holocaust victims have been attempting for decades to persuade
insurance companies to settle unpaid insurance claims.
(6) In 1998, the International Commission on Holocaust Era
Insurance Claims (in this section referred to as ``ICHEIC'')
was established by the National Association of Insurance
Commissioners in cooperation with several European insurance
companies, European regulators, the Government of Israel, and
nongovernmental organizations with the promise that it would
expeditiously address the issue of unpaid insurance policies
issued to Holocaust victims.
(7) On July 17, 2000, the United States and Germany signed
an executive agreement in support of the German Foundation
``Remembrance, Responsibility, and the Future'', which
designated ICHEIC to resolve all Holocaust-era insurance
policies issued by German companies and their subsidiaries.
(8) On January 17, 2001, the United States and Austria
signed an executive agreement, which designated ICHEIC to
resolve all Holocaust-era insurance policies issued by Austrian
companies and their subsidiaries.
(9) The ICHEIC process ended in 2007 and companies holding
Holocaust-era insurance policies continue to withhold names of
owners and beneficiaries of thousands of insurance policies
sold to Jewish customers prior to World War II.
(10) Experts estimate that only a small fraction of the
policies estimated to have been sold to Jews living in Europe
at the beginning of World War II have been paid through ICHEIC.
(11) In American Insurance Association, Inc., v. Garamendi,
the United States Supreme Court held that under the supremacy
clause of the Constitution of the United States, executive
agreements and executive foreign policy calling for insurance
claims against German and Austrian companies to be handled
within ICHEIC preempted State laws authorizing State insurance
commissioners to subpoena company records and require
publication of the names of Holocaust era policy holders.
(12) In the Garamendi case, the Supreme Court stated that
Congress, which has the power to regulate international
commerce and prescribe Federal court jurisdiction, had not
addressed disclosure and restitution of insurance policies of
Holocaust victims.
(13) Subsequent court decisions have dismissed Holocaust-
era insurance claims brought against an Italian insurance
company, even though there is no executive agreement between
the United States and Italy.
(14) Congress supports the rights of Holocaust survivors
and the heirs and beneficiaries of Holocaust victims to obtain
information from insurers and to bring legal actions in courts,
wherever jurisdiction requirements are met, to recover unpaid
funds from entities that participated in the theft of family
insurance assets or the affiliates of such entities.
(15) Congress intends for this Act to establish a Federal
private right of action to allow Holocaust survivors and heirs
and beneficiaries of victims to recover under their covered
Holocaust-era insurance policies, and to allow for State causes
of action and disclosure requirement laws regarding Holocaust-
era insurance policies to be valid and not preempted.
(16) This Act expresses the intent of Congress to deem
valid State laws protecting the rights of Holocaust survivors
and the heirs and beneficiaries of Holocaust victims to obtain
information from insurers and to bring actions in courts of
proper jurisdiction to recover unpaid funds from entities that
participated in the theft of family insurance assets or the
affiliates of such entities.
(17) Insurance payments should be expedited to the victims
of the most heinous crime of the 20th century to ensure that
justice is served.
(18) This Act will enable Holocaust survivors and heirs and
beneficiaries of Holocaust victims to obtain compensation
commensurate with the real monetary value of their losses.
(19) Under the circumstances faced by Holocaust victims and
their families, courts should be open to Holocaust survivors
and heirs and beneficiaries of Holocaust victims for a
reasonable number of years after the enactment of this Act,
without regard to any other statutes of limitation.
SEC. 3. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.
(a) Civil Actions To Recover Under Covered Policies.--Any person
who purchased a covered policy, or a beneficiary or heir of such
person, may bring a civil action, in the appropriate United States
district court, against the insurer for the covered policy or a related
company of the insurer, to recover proceeds due under the covered
policy or otherwise to enforce any rights under the covered policy.
(b) Nationwide Service of Process.--For a civil action brought
under subsection (a), process may be served in the judicial district
where the case is brought or any other judicial district of the United
States where the defendant may be found, resides, has an agent, or
transacts business.
(c) Remedies.--A court shall award to a prevailing beneficiary in a
civil action brought under subsection (a)--
(1) the amount of the proceeds due under the covered
policy;
(2) prejudgment interest on the amount described in clause
(i) from the date the amount was due until the date of
judgment, calculated at a rate of 6 percent per year,
compounded annually; and
(3) any other appropriate relief necessary to enforce
rights under the covered policy.
SEC. 4. VALIDITY OF STATE LAWS.
(a) Validity of Laws Creating Cause of Action.--Any State law
creating a cause of action against any insurer or related company based
on a claim arising out of or related to a covered policy shall not be
invalid or preempted by reason of any executive foreign policy
described in subsection (d)(1) or any executive agreement described in
subsection (d)(2).
(b) Validity of Laws Requiring Disclosure of Information.--Any
State law that is enacted on or after March 1, 1998, and that requires
an insurer doing business in that State, including any related company,
to disclose information regarding any covered policy shall be deemed to
be in effect on the date of the enactment of such law and shall not be
invalid or preempted by reason of any executive foreign policy
described in paragraph (1) of subsection (d) or any executive agreement
described in paragraph (2) of subsection (d).
(c) Executive Agreements and Executive Foreign Policy Covered.--
(1) Executive foreign policy.--An executive foreign policy
described in this paragraph is a foreign policy of the
executive branch of the Federal Government established before,
on, or after the date of enactment of this Act.
(2) Executive agreements.--An executive agreement described
in this paragraph is an executive agreement between the United
States and a foreign government entered into before, on, or
after the date of enactment of this Act.
(d) Statements of Interest.--No funds may be used by the Department
of State, or any other department or agency of the United States, for
the purpose of issuing a statement of interest seeking to encourage a
court in the United States to dismiss any claim or action brought to
recover compensation arising out of or related to a covered policy.
SEC. 5. STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.
A court may not dismiss a claim or action that is brought under
section 3, or under subsection (a) or (b) of section 4, within 10 years
after the date of the enactment of this Act on the ground that the
claim or action is barred under any statute of limitations or the
doctrine of laches.
SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY.
(a) In General.--This Act shall apply to any claim or action that
is brought, before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act,
under section 3, or under a State law described in subsection (a) or
(b) of section 4, including--
(1) any claim or action dismissed, before the date of the
enactment of this Act, on the ground of executive preemption;
and
(2) any claim or action that is deemed released as a result
of the settlement of a class action that was entered into
before the date of the enactment of this Act, if the claimant
did not receive any payment pursuant to the settlement.
(b) Claims or Actions Not Precluded on Certain Grounds.--With
respect to any claim or action brought under section 3, or under a
State law described in subsection (a) or (b) of section 4, it shall not
be a defense that the claim or action is or was precluded, barred,
waived, discharged, or otherwise invalid under the doctrine of res
judicata, collateral estoppel or any similar doctrine.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on
Foreign Affairs in the House of Representatives, the Committee
on Foreign Relations in the Senate, and the Committees on the
Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
(2) Covered policy.--
(A) In general.--The term ``covered policy'' means
any life, dowry, education, property, or other
insurance policy that--
(i) was in effect at any time after January
30, 1933, and before December 31, 1945; and
(ii) was issued to a policyholder domiciled
in any area that was occupied or controlled by
Nazi Germany.
(B) Nazi germany.--In this paragraph, the term
``Nazi Germany'' means--
(i) the Nazi government of Germany; and
(ii) any government in any area occupied by
the military forces of the Nazi government of
Germany.
(3) Insurer.--The term ``insurer'' means any person engaged
in the business of insurance (including reinsurance) in
interstate or foreign commerce, if the person issued a covered
policy, or a successor in interest to such person.
(4) Legislative days.--The term ``legislative days'' means
those days on which both Houses of Congress are in session.
(5) Related company.--The term ``related company'' means an
affiliate, as that term is defined in section 104(g) of the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (15 U.S.C. 6701(g)).
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