# Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act of 2021

This bill is about helping people recover money from insurance policies their families held during World War II and the Holocaust. Many Jewish families and others living in Nazi-occupied Europe had life insurance, savings policies, and other insurance products before and during the war. When the Holocaust happened, these policies were often never paid out. The bill aims to give survivors and their heirs a legal path to recover what they're owed.

The core problem this bill addresses is that previous court rulings said the federal government's foreign policy decisions prevented people from suing insurance companies over these old policies. Essentially, courts had decided that pursuing these claims might interfere with America's diplomatic relationships with other countries, so they blocked lawsuits. This bill overrides that decision by creating a new federal law that explicitly allows people to sue. It applies to insurance policies issued between 1933 and 1945 in areas controlled by Nazi Germany or in Switzerland. If you can prove you're a beneficiary of one of these policies—whether you're the original policyholder, a family member, or an heir—you can now take an insurance company to court to recover what's owed.

When someone wins a case under this bill, they get the full amount the policy promised, plus interest calculated at 6 percent per year from when the money was originally due. If a court finds the insurance company acted in bad faith (meaning they deliberately tried to avoid paying), the damages triple. The person also gets their lawyer's fees and court costs paid by the insurance company. Importantly, this bill gives people a 10-year window from when it becomes law to file their claims, which is much longer than normal statute of limitations rules would typically allow.

The bill also prevents previous court settlements and agreements from blocking new claims. If someone previously accepted a small settlement because they thought they had no other choice, this law lets them potentially pursue a full claim. The only exception is for people who already received payments specifically labeled as "humanitarian" from the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims. The bill essentially says that state laws requiring insurance companies to disclose information about these old policies can now be enforced, and insurance companies can't hide behind foreign policy arguments anymore.

Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act of 2021

Wasserman Schultz, Debbie

Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act of 2021 This bill allows a beneficiary (or an heir of a beneficiary) of certain insurance policies in effect during the Holocaust to sue in U.S. district court to enforce rights under such policies. An insurance policy covered under this bill must have been&nbsp;(1) in effect at any time between January 31, 1933, and December 31, 1945, and (2) issued to a policyholder domiciled in Nazi-controlled territory or Switzerland. A court shall award to&nbsp;a prevailing beneficiary (1) the amount due under a policy, (2) prejudgment interest of 6% a year, (3) attorney's fees and costs, and (4) treble damages if the insurer acted in bad faith.&nbsp; An action under this bill or state law related to&nbsp;a covered&nbsp;insurance policy shall be considered timely if filed within 10 years of this bill's enactment. Judgments and agreements entered before this bill's enactment shall not preclude a claim brought under the bill, with certain exceptions. Neither executive agreements between the United States and a foreign government nor&nbsp;U.S. executive foreign policies shall (1) affect or preclude claims brought under this bill, or&nbsp;(2) supersede or preempt any state laws relating to insurance policies covered by this bill.