American Insurance Assn. v. Garamendi
Several insurance companies sought to enjoin the California Insurance Commissioner from enforcing a California statute that requires disclosure of information about Holocaust-era insurance policies. The Holocaust Victim Insurance Relief Act (HVIRA) requires any insurer doing business in California, that sold insurance policies to persons in Europe that were in effect between the years 1920 and 1945, to file certain information about those policies with the Commissioner. The reporting requirement also applies to insurance companies that do business in California and are “related” to a company that sold Holocaust-era policies.The district court granted a preliminary injunction, finding the insurance companies likely to succeed on their Commerce Clause and foreign affairs doctrine claims. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected those claims as a matter of law, but remanded for consideration of the Due Process claims. The district court permanently enjoined enforcement of the statute based on the Due Process claims. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, holding, among others, (1) that the California legislature did not exceed its legislative authority because HVIRA does not regulate extraterritorially; and (2) HVIRA did not violate the substantive or procedural due process rights of the insurance companies
Questions Presented:
1. Whether California's Holocaust Victim Insurance Relief Act, which the U.S. government has called an "actual interference" with U.S. foreign policy, violates the foreign affairs doctrine of
Zschering v. Miller, 389 U.S. 429 (1968).
2. Whether the HVIRA, which attempts to regulate insurance transactions that occurred overseas between foreign parties more than half a century ago, exceeds California's legislative jurisdiction
under the Due Process Clause.
3. Whether the McCarran-Ferguson Act, 15 U.S.C. 1011-1015, insulates the HVIRA from review under the Foreign Commerce Clause.
