Afederal
judge on Monday cleared the way for a long-running dispute over unpaid
life insurance claims for Holocaust victims to move a step closer to a
settlement. But opponents said they would keep trying to block the
settlement, which, they argued, would benefit only a small number of
those with potential claims.
The settlement would provide perhaps $50
million to Holocaust victims and their families — $35 million has
already been paid — with some people receiving payments as small as
$1,000. Though insurers have paid claims, opponents say that most of the
hundreds of thousands of policyholders have received nothing and that
billions of dollars are at stake.
By early last year, lawsuits against
about 20 European insurance companies had been dropped or settled in a
dispute that began more than a decade ago. And lawyers for some
policyholders and the last of the companies, Assicurazioni Generali of
Italy, said they were ready to settle.
In February, Judge George B. Daniels of
Federal District Court in Manhattan approved the settlement. But a
three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit agreed with Samuel J. Dubbin, a Miami lawyer leading the
opposition, that many people with a potential interest had not been
sufficiently notified of the pending settlement.
In court Monday, Judge Daniels said that
by sending out more than 50,000 letters late last year, lawyers backing
the settlement had overcome the objections, and he reaffirmed his
earlier finding that the settlement was fair. The case now returns to
the appeals court.
Robert A. Swift, a lawyer in Philadelphia
who helped negotiate the settlement, told the court Monday that the
agreement was a compromise. Mr. Swift, who said earlier that he had
gotten the best deal he could, expressed skepticism about estimates that
the unpaid claims were in the billions of dollars.
Mr. Swift had said he had little alternative but to agree to the settlement. ASupreme CourtMichael B. Mukasey,
now attorney general of the United States, cited the Supreme Court
decision in dismissing a class-action suit that Mr. Swift and others had
pursued against Generali. ruling several years ago limited the ability of Holocaust victims in the United States to pursue European companies, and Judge
Mr. Dubbin holds out hope that an appeals
court may overturn the Mukasey decision. And Congress is considering
legislation that would strengthen the efforts of Mr. Dubbin and others
against the insurance companies.
One of Mr. Dubbin’s goals has been to get
the insurers to publish the names of Holocaust-era policyholders so
that families who lost everything, including insurance documents, would
know if they had the basis for a claim. Generali has refused to publish
the names and says it has limited records for the Holocaust era.
In court Monday, Mr. Dubbin said he had
evidence suggesting more information than the insurer had disclosed. He
argued against approving the settlement in hopes of establishing proof
of coverage that could yield higher payments. Marco E. Schnabl, a lawyer
for Generali, said the insurer had disclosed “everything we have that
reasonably could be connected to the Holocaust.”
Judge Daniels said it was unlikely that
further inquiry would yield larger awards to policyholders and that it
was not reasonable to further delay payouts to those agreeing to the
settlement on speculation that the Mukasey decision might be overturned
or that Congress would act.