End in sight for Generali Holocaust claims case
By Lisa Jucca
MILAN, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Claims by thousands of Holocaust victims and their relatives against Italy's biggest insurer Generali (GASI.MI) have neared final settlement with a U.S. judge's ruling this week, the company said on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels reaffirmed in New York on Monday that last year's settlement between Generali and victims of the Nazis and their relatives was "fair, reasonable and adequate", Generali said.
Daniels also found that Generali, Europe's third-largest insurer, had given appropriate notice to potential class members by sending out individual notices, something which had been questioned by an appeals court. Generali was one of the biggest insurers in eastern Europe before World War Two and its insurance policies were popular with Jews. It faced a class-action lawsuit over claims that it failed to honour policies held by victims of the Nazis.
An appeals court in October had annulled an initial settlement between the insurer and the victims. The court questioned whether adequate notice had been given to people with potential interest in the class-action suit.
Daniels' decision now goes back to the appeals court in what is expected to be the final step of the long-running case.
Generali said it already paid claims for a total of $35 million. It did not disclose details on how many claims were still pending or what the total amount could be.
Potential class members had up until Dec. 26 to file a claim. The filing date can be extended to 2009 if new documents proving the existence of insurance policies emerge from the German archive of Bad Arolsen, which holds millions of Holocaust-related files, Generali said.
The victims' lawyers were not immediately available. (Editing by Dominic Evans)
