Last week, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) pledged its support for the Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act of 2008 (“Accountability Act”), which would institute mechanisms for Holocaust-era insurance claims.  The proposed legislation is intended to assist Holocaust survivors and their heirs with insurance claims that are complicated because of missing death certifications and/or non-existent physical copies of policies that were confiscated by the Nazis or lost in the Holocaust.

In response to difficulties faced by those seeking claims payment on Holocaust-era policies, the NAIC, Insurance Commissioners of several states, major Jewish organizations and various European insurers established the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims (“ICHEIC”) in 1998 to provide a forum in which claimants could being their claims.  ICHEIC and its partner entities paid approximately $300 million to more than 47,000 claimants and approximately $200 million to Holocaust-related humanitarian organizations before ICHEIC concluded its operations last year.

Congress noted that the Eastern European nations did not participate in ICHEIC but now that they have “joined the community of free and modern nations,” the Accountability Act is aimed to encourage the Eastern European nations to proactively  identify and provide restitution to beneficiaries under Holocaust-era insurance policies issued within their borders.  The Accountability Act mandates that the U.S. Secretary of State seek to enter agreements with European nations to facilitate European insurers’ responses to claims inquiries.  It also would require the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. Executive Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to encourage Eastern European nations to comply with the Accountability Act.

Under the Accountability Act, an insurer receiving a written inquiry from a possible beneficiary under a policy subject to the Accountability Act must respond within a reasonable time to confirm whether the individual is a potential beneficiary and the insurer must notify the Holocaust Claims Processing Office (in New York) of the possible claim.  The proposed legislation also requests that the Holocaust Claims Processing Office monitor insurer responses to claims inquiries and report insurer compliance to Congress.

Additionally, the Accountability Act would create a federal cause of action for a person covered by a policy or a beneficiary, heir, or assignee, for a claim related to a policy. 

The Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act of 2008 is an amendment to the Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act of 2007, which specifically identified life, annuity, endowment,  dowry, property, casualty, disability, health transport and marine insurance policies as those improperly withheld from the victims of the Holocaust.

Click here to read the Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act of 2008.