For Immediate Release
May 26, 1998

Gov. Wilson Signs Landmark Holocaust Insurance Bill

New Law Will Make It Easier for Holocaust Survivors and Heirs to Prevail on Lawsuits in California

Holocaust survivors and their heirs will have an easier time prevailing in lawsuits in California thanks to a new bill signed into law on Friday by Gov. Pete Wilson. The landmark bill, AB 1334, permits Holocaust victims and their heirs to sue European-based insurance companies doing business in California and extends the statue of limitations for the filing of such claims until December 31, 2010.

“This new law will have significant impact on helping Holocaust victims to collect on insurance proceeds that are long overdue,” said William M. Shernoff, the nationally recognized insurance consumer rights attorney who specializes in insurance bad faith cases.

According to Shernoff, whose law firm has been retained on five Holocaust-era cases, the new law permits Holocaust survivors and their heirs to seek legal redress against European-based insurance companies that have wrongfully denied valid insurance claims.

“We expect to have a trial on these cases within a year, and we are vigorously going to pursue punitive damages,” said Shernoff of Claremont’s Shernoff, Bidart, Darras & Arkin.

Los Angeles sole practitioner Lisa Stern, who testified on behalf of the Holocaust claims bill in April, is co-counsel on all five cases.