4 Families Settle Suits Against Insurer in Holocaust-Era Cases

Four Southern California Jewish families settled lawsuits filed against a European insurer stemming from failure to pay a claim based on policies issued during the Holocaust era, their attorney said Thursday.

The four cases against Assicurazioni Generali of Trieste, Italy, have been resolved, said the families’ Claremont attorney, Ricardo Echeverria, but he would not disclosed the amount of the settlement.

In November, Echeveria’s firm settled the first individual Holocaust-era lawsuit of this type against a European insurer. At the time, a spokesman for Generali said the settlement was in line with the company’s efforts to resolve Holocaust-era matters. A Generali source also said at the time that the company had already made offers to pay 230 Holocaust-related claims of individuals throughout the United States and Israel.

Those who settled Monday are:

* Nicholas Babos, 77, of Los Angeles. He is the sole survivor of a Hungarian family that died in the Holocaust. His father bought at least two policies, Echeverria said, but the claims had been rejected.

* Alex Friedman, 79, of Los Angeles. He was born in Hungary and his parents, grandparents and four siblings were killed at Auschwitz. His family purchased at least one life insurance policy, but, after numerous attempts through the Hungarian and Czech governments, Friedman was unable to collect on the policy, Echeverria said.

* Alice Feldman, 68, and Margaret Fishbein, 71, of San Diego. Their family fled Prague for the United States in 1938 when the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia. Their father first attempted to file a claim on his life insurance, annuities and dowry policies policies in 1946. He died six years later. In 1962, Echeverria said, the family finally received a written acknowledgment from Generali confirming the existence of one policy, but denying the responsibility to honor the claim.

* Fred Jackson, 76, of Los Angeles. He lost both parents and a brother at concentration camps. He was liberated at Dachau in 1945. His father bought two life insurance policies from Generali in 1924, Echeverria said. After Jackson moved to Los Angeles, he made several attempts to file a claim but with no success.