Insurers Should Disclose Holocaust Policyholders

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge recently took a step toward ending one of the longest-running con games of the 20th century--the failure by insurance companies to make good on policies belonging to victims of the Holocaust.

Judge Florence-Marie Cooper set a trial date for the case of Adolf Stern vs. Assicurazioni Generali SpA insurance company, the first of its kind in California and authorized by a state law I authored last year ensuring the courts’ jurisdiction over this type of case.

Stern is suing Generali for its failure to pay the proceeds on a policy owned by his father, who was murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Adolf Stern was the only member of his family to survive.

For 50 years, a handful of European insurance companies has stonewalled the Sterns and other families seeking their rightful payment on World War II-era life and property policies held by loved ones who perished in the Holocaust. What is unusual about the Sterns’ story is that the family only recently obtained written proof of the insurance policy.

Others among the 5,600 survivors of the Holocaust living in Los Angeles today, and tens of thousands of descendants of Holocaust victims, do not have possession of the policies and consequently have been shut out by the insurers.

After the war, the families sought payment on policies they knew existed and they were flatly rejected. The companies asked for things they knew the families did not have and could not get: death certificates from the concentration camps or copies of the policies that had been destroyed by the ravages of war. The companies easily could have provided proof of the policies but they refused.

That is why additional state legislation is needed to compel the insurance industry to disclose all relevant information on Holocaust victim policies.

Not surprisingly, these same companies and their lobbyists in Sacramento are working to defeat my legislation (Assembly Bill 600) to force them and their affiliates and subsidiaries operating in California to reveal the names of Holocaust policyholders within six months or lose their license to operate in the state.

The information would be available to the public in a Holocaust registry kept by the Department of Insurance. Last year, former Gov. Pete Wilson vetoed an identical measure after the insurers mounted a last-minute lobbying blitz against it.

Full disclosure of policyholder information is crucial to the resolution of this issue and anathema to the insurance industry. The insurers argue that the legislation is not needed because they are participating in an international commission created to broker an agreement between them and the people who are owed money.

Likewise, Generali sought to have the Stern case thrown out of court, arguing that when the state of California joined the international commission proceedings, it gave up its right to other causes of action against Generali.

The industry also has sought to amend my bill and related state legislation with provisions to insulate it from penalties so long as it is cooperating with the international commission.

The insurers’ frequent use of the commission as a shield against any other action that threatens them raises a serious question as to their motivation. Are they cooperating with the commission with a legitimate desire to resolve the claims or simply seeking a safe haven from other regulatory and legal remedies?

After months of deliberations, the commission’s proceedings have not resulted in payment of a single claim. The industry’s involvement with the commission is entirely voluntary, and there is no mechanism to enforce its decisions.

The commission has not required full disclosure of policyholder details, as called for by my legislation, so the question of who is owed how much could remain largely unanswered.

The insurers’ game plan is obvious--delay until the claimants, many of whom are elderly, die or give up. In the meantime, make a pretense of cooperating with the commission, without making real concessions.

The antidote to this strategy is to exert the unparalleled economic leverage of California state government over the recalcitrant insurers desiring to do business in our lucrative market. It is the right thing to do and could be the catalyst for more meaningful progress at the international commission.

The Holocaust insurance registry is not just for people with claims to verify. It is for all Jews to be able to find out the truth.

After five decades of lies, we want the truth. We will continue this fight until sooner or later, one way or another, Holocaust families prevail.