HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS SUING EUROPEAN INSURERS.

Byline: Justin Stoner City News Service

Several Holocaust survivors and their heirs have sued a group of European insurers, claiming they are withholding payouts on life insurance policies for people who died decades ago, a lawyer said Saturday.

The plaintiffs are being represented by Claremont attorney William Shernoff, who earlier this year filed a $135 million lawsuit against one company on behalf of survivor Adolf Stern.

The lawsuits, one of which includes exhibits of documents in Hebrew, Italian and Czechoslovakian, and family photos, were filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Among other things, the plaintiffs seek injunctive relief and damages for breach of contract.

Assicurazioni Generali, which does business through a Deans & Homer branch office in Encino, is named in the two bad-faith insurance lawsuits brought by Dr. Julia Sladek and Nicholas Babos.

Germany-based Victoria Insurance Co., which does business in California through an international insurance network called Insurope, is named in a separate lawsuit. Centenarian plaintiff Sophie Stahl and her children, Gabriele and Werner, accuse Victoria of trying to destroy evidence.

And Allianz Insurance Co., which bought out Germany-based Phoenix Insurance Co., is the defendant in the fourth lawsuit, brought by Eugene Hofstadter and his five surviving sisters. The siblings claim their mother, father and 12 other brothers and sisters were executed at Auschwitz.

Winnifred Homer-Smith of Deans & Homer said she is confused as to why her firm was named in two of the lawsuits.

``We are simply a property agent for Generali,'' she said. ``We have no connection with European insurance, and we've never been in the life insurance business.''

Representatives of the other companies named in the lawsuits could not be reached for comment.

Last year, in response to the brewing controversy and pending litigation, Generali wrote an open letter to the families of Holocaust victims. The company said it had very little information and few records regarding policies issued by its former branches in Central and Eastern Europe.

Generali set up a policy information center to inform families about the company's possession of documents, which may have been issued during the pre-World War II era. It also set up a $12 million fund, to be administered by an independent committee in Israel, for the families of Holocaust victims.

But critics claim a single policy might be worth $12 million when calculated with interest. For example, many Jewish fathers bought dowry policies for their daughters, which had a significant cash value.

Meanwhile, a bill is winding its way through the state Legislature that could head off insurers' arguments that the lawsuits were filed beyond the statute of limitations.

AB 1715 was co-written by Assemblyman Wally Knox, D-Los Angeles, and a Jewish Community Center subcommittee that deals with the issue.

The measure, which made it through the Appropriations Committee on Saturday, pushes back the statute of limitations to 2010. Insurers that violate the proposed act could face suspension of their business licenses.