[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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