Congress: 111 · Status: active · Israel/Palestine classification: neutral
Data (JSON) — machine-readable record of this bill (identifiers, sponsor, classification, actions, and the member-by-member vote breakdown).
Official record on Congress.gov — full text, actions, and cosponsor history for S 4033.
Sponsor: Specter, Arlen (R-PA)
Restoration of Legal Rights for Claimants under Holocaust-Era Insurance Policies Act of 2010 - Allows a beneficiary (including an heir, assignee, or legal representative of a named insured or beneficiary) of a Holocaust-era life, dowry, education, annuity, property, or other insurance policy to bring a civil action in a U.S. district court against the insurer for the covered policy (or a related company of the insurer) to recover proceeds due or otherwise to enforce any rights under the policy. Covers any such policy issued to a policyholder domiciled in any area that was occupied or controlled by Nazi Germany (or by an ally or friendly government) or the territorial jurisdiction of Switzerland. Requires the award to a prevailing beneficiary of the amount of the proceeds due under the policy, plus prejudgment interest at 6% per year, compounded annually, calculated from the date the amount was originally due. Requires the award of treble damages against any insurer or related company that acted in bad faith. Sets a 10-year statute of limitations for claims filed under this Act. Declares that any prior judgment or release entered for any claim arising under a covered policy in any civil action in a federal or state court shall not preclude, foreclose, bar, release, waive, acquit, discharge, or otherwise impair any claim brought under this Act by any person. Declares that any executive agreement between the United States and a foreign government entered into, or any executive foreign policy of the U.S. government established, before, on, or after the enactment of this Act, shall not supercede or preempt any state law or compromise, settle, extinguish, waive, preclude, bar, or foreclose any claim brought under this Act.
Allows Holocaust survivors and heirs to sue insurers in U.S. federal court to recover unpaid life insurance and other policies from Nazi-occupied Europe and Switzerland. Survivors who win receive the policy amount plus 6% annual interest going back to when the claim should have been paid, and can receive triple damages if the insurer acted in bad faith. Claims can be filed within 10 years, and previous settlements or court decisions do not block new claims under this law.
This law creates a legal mechanism to recover Holocaust-era insurance claims, a historical justice issue distinct from Israeli-Palestinian policy. The bill's connection to the directional assignment may reflect that Holocaust restitution and Israeli state interests are sometimes linked in advocacy, but the legislation itself addresses European insurance companies and Nazi-era claims, not current Israel-Palestine dynamics.