Insurer OKs $100-Million Holocaust Payoff

Assicurazioni Generali, Italy’s largest insurance company, reached a $100-million settlement with Holocaust survivors and their families here Wednesday in a breakthrough that could lead to agreements with other insurers.

“Generali will assist policyholders in pursuing claims against other European insurers,” said Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.), who has been acting as a mediator, to Judge Michael B. Mukasey in U.S. District Court, where the pact was made public.

A Generali warehouse in Italy contains extensive records of policies it sold as Eastern Europe’s biggest producer of life and annuity policies before World War II. Plaintiffs’ lawyers said the records could be of enormous help to Holocaust victims seeking compensation.

“They have agreed to provide us with information and assistance so we can turn around and go after other insurers,” said Edward Fagan, a lawyer who filed suit against the Italian company.

“I believe this gives us a historic opportunity to go forward with other insurers,” D’Amato said.

“It’s long overdue. It’s over half a century overdue,” said Marta Cornell, a concentration camp survivor whose entire family, except for her grandmother, perished in the Holocaust.

Cornell, whose father bought prewar policies from Generali, was a principal plaintiff in the case.

Undersecretary of State Stuart E. Eizenstat, the government’s point man on Holocaust claims, said he hopes the agreement will hasten the resolution of claims with other insurance companies.

In a statement, he said he had participated in efforts to persuade Generali to reach agreement and had convened meetings with other European companies. “I have also personally raised Holocaust insurance issues with governments in Central and Eastern Europe,” Eizenstat added.

Earlier in the month, the Zurich Insurance Co., named in a New York lawsuit, agreed to work to resolve outstanding claims.

The settlement after what lawyers and D’Amato described as extremely difficult bargaining, came a week after two Swiss banks, Credit Suisse and UBS, agreed to pay $1.25 billion in compensation for unreturned Holocaust assets.

So far, lawsuits have been filed against 15 European insurance carriers by lawyers for survivors and their families.

“This morning, it seemed we would be at an impasse . . . ,” D’Amato told Mukasey. “We hope we have brought to this court the kind of closure we all are seeking. It is a meaningful settlement.”

“I believe they [Generali officials] have come forward in a very meaningful way to address past injustices,” D’Amato told the judge. “It is about time they all come forward to settle these grievances so we can put the interest of justice first and foremost.”

Under the agreement, the National Assn. of Insurance Commissioners will set up an international commission to consider claims and oversee the settlement.

“This settlement will ensure substantial relief to survivors of the Holocaust and their heirs in the most timely manner possible . . . ,” said Guido Pastori, Generali’s vice general director in a statement.

“Our attempts to attain this goal are driven by a long-standing and genuine desire to ensure that Holocaust survivors and their heirs receive the justice and restitution they deserve in the quickest way possible,” Pastori said.

Fagan said the insurance company was offering $65 million when intensive negotiations began this week but that the figure grew after “emotional and lengthy discussions.”

“This was rough but it was worth it,” D’Amato said. “It was confrontational at times.”

He said negotiators wanted to avoid permitting the talks to drag on for years, with the median age of Holocaust survivors now at 81 1/2 years.

“We are racing the clock here,” he added.

Lawyers told Mukasey that Generali’s board of directors is expected to approve the settlement when it meets Aug. 28.