United States Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida), United States Senator Bill Nelson (D-Florida) and co-sponsor United States Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) introduced House of Representatives bill 762 and Senate bill 258 entitled the “Holocaust Insurance Accountability Act of 2017”. These bills are drafted to allow Holocaust-era survivors to bring their cases before the U.S. court system and seek redress for injustices suffered during the holocaust.
Substantial evidence exists suggesting several European insurance companies collaborated with the Nazi regime during the 1930s and 1940’s, selling thousands of policies totaling billions of dollars to Nazi victims and then refused to honor them. H.R. 762 and S. 258 would allow a beneficiary of a Holocaust–era life, dowry, education, annuity, property or other insurance policy to bring a civil action in a United States District Court against an insurer for a covered policy and to recover proceeds or enforce any right under the policy
“Justice needs to be provided to the many Holocaust-era survivors and their heirs,whose families were torn apart by the Nazi regime. At the May 1st, Board of County Commissioners meeting we will be joined by David Mermelstein, Miami; Herbert Karliner, Aventura; Magda Bader, Aventura; Wendy Rothfield, Aventura and David Schaecter, of Miami to tell their story. Their time is now,” said Chairman Bovo.
The Board of County Commissioners resolution will request the United States Congress to pass S. 258, H.R. 762, or similar legislation designed to allow Holocaust-era survivors and their heirs to seek redress from insurance policy providers. Directs the Clerk of the Board to transmit a certified copy of this resolution to United States Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, United States Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and the remaining members of the Florida Congressional Delegation. Lastly, directs the County’s federal governmental representation to advocate for the legislative action and directs the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to amend the 2018 Federal Legislative Package to include this item.
