SECTIONS 13800-13807 - California Statutes

INSURANCE CODE

SECTION 13800-13807

13800. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the
Holocaust Victim Insurance Relief Act of 1999.

13801. The Legislature finds and declares the following:
(a) During World War II, untold millions of lives and property
were destroyed.
(b) In addition to the many atrocities that befell the victims of
the Nazi regime, insurance claims that rightfully should have been
paid out to the victims and their families, in many cases, were not.
(c) In many instances, insurance company records are the only
proof of insurance policies held. In some cases, recollection of
those policies' very existence may have perished along with the
Holocaust victims.
(d) At least 5,600 documented Holocaust survivors are living in
California today. Many of these survivors and their descendents have
been fighting for over 50 years to persuade insurance companies to
settle unpaid or wrongfully paid claims. Survivors are asking that
insurance companies come forth with any information they possess that
could show proof of insurance policies held by Holocaust victims and
survivors, in order to ensure that closure on this issue is swiftly
brought to pass.
(e) Insurance companies doing business in the State of California
have a responsibility to ensure that any involvement they or their
related companies may have had with insurance policies of Holocaust
victims are disclosed to the state and to ensure the rapid resolution
of these questions, eliminating the further victimization of these
policyholders and their families.
(f) The international Jewish community is in active negotiations
with responsible insurance companies through the International
Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims to resolve all
outstanding insurance claims issues. This chapter is necessary to
protect the claims and interests of California residents, as well as
to encourage the development of a resolution to these issues through
the international process or through direct action by the State of
California, as necessary.

13802. For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
shall apply:
(a) "Holocaust victim" means any person who was persecuted during
the period of 1929 to 1945, inclusive, by Nazi Germany, its allies,
or sympathizers.
(b) "Related company" means any parent, subsidiary, reinsurer,
successor in interest, managing general agent, or affiliate company
of the insurer.
(c) "Proceeds" means the face value or other payout value of
insurance policies and annuities plus reasonable interest to date of
payment without diminution for wartime or immediate postwar currency
devaluation.

13803. The commissioner shall establish and maintain within the
department a central registry containing records and information
relating to insurance policies, as described in Section 13804, of
Holocaust victims, living and deceased. The registry shall be known
as the Holocaust Era Insurance Registry. The Attorney General, in
coordination with the department, shall establish appropriate
mechanisms to ensure public access to the registry.

13804. (a) Any insurer currently doing business in the state that
sold life, property, liability, health, annuities, dowry,
educational, or casualty insurance policies, directly or through a
related company, to persons in Europe, which were in effect between
1920 and 1945, whether the sale occurred before or after the insurer
and the related company became related, shall, within 180 days
following enactment of this act, file or cause to be filed the
following information with the commissioner to be entered into the
registry:
(1) The number of those insurance policies.
(2) The holder, beneficiary, and current status of those policies.
(3) The city of origin, domicile, or address for each policyholder
listed in the policies.
(b) In addition, each insurer subject to subdivision (a) shall
certify to any of the following:
(1) That the proceeds of the policies described in subdivision (a)
have been paid to the designated beneficiaries or their heirs where
that person or persons, after diligent search, could be located and
identified.
(2) That the proceeds of the policies where the beneficiaries or
heirs could not, after diligent search, be located or identified,
have been distributed to Holocaust survivors or to qualified
charitable nonprofit organizations for the purpose of assisting
Holocaust survivors.
(3) That a court of law has certified in a legal proceeding
resolving the rights of unpaid policyholders, their heirs, and
beneficiaries, a plan for the distribution of the proceeds.
(4) That the proceeds have not been distributed and the amount of
those proceeds.
An insurer who certifies as true any material matter pursuant to
this subdivision, which the insurer knows to be false, is guilty of a
misdemeanor.
(c) An insurer currently doing business in the state that did not
sell any insurance policies in Europe prior to 1945, shall not be
subject to this section if a related company, whether or not
authorized and currently doing business in the state, has made a
filing under this section.

13805. Any insurer that knowingly files information about a policy
required by this chapter that is false shall, with respect to that
policy, be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed five thousand
dollars ($5,000), which penalty is hereby appropriated to the
department to be used by it to aid in the resolution of Holocaust
insurance claims.

13806. The commissioner shall suspend the certificate of authority
to conduct insurance business in the state of any insurer that fails
to comply with the requirements of this chapter by the 210th day
after this section becomes effective, until the time that the insurer
complies with this chapter.

13807. The commissioner shall adopt rules to implement this chapter
within 90 days of its effective date. The rules shall be adopted as
emergency regulations in accordance with Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 11340) of the Government Code, and for the purposes of that
chapter, including Section 11349.6 of the Government Code, the
adoption of the rules shall be considered by the Office of
Administrative Law to be necessary for the immediate preservation of
the public peace, health and safety, and general welfare.