§ 354.6 Second World War slave or forced labor victims; heirs; actions for recovery of compensation; limitations

Codes > California Code of Civil Procedure > Part 2 > Title 2 : Chapter 4 > 354.6

§ 354.6. Second World War slave or forced labor victims; heirs; actions for recovery of compensation; limitations

    (a) As used in this section:

        (1) “Second World War slave labor victim” means any person taken from a concentration camp or ghetto or diverted from transportation to a concentration camp or from a ghetto to perform labor without pay for any period of time between 1929 and 1945, by the Nazi regime, its allies and sympathizers, or enterprises transacting business in any of the areas occupied by or under control of the Nazi regime or its allies and sympathizers.

        (2) ‘Second World War forced labor victim” means any person who was a member of the civilian population conquered by the Nazi regime, its allies or sympathizers, or prisoner-of-war of the Nazi regime, its allies or sympathizers, forced to perform labor without pay for any period of time between 1929 and 1945, by the Nazi regime, its allies and sympathizers, or enterprises transacting business in any of the areas occupied by or under control of the Nazi regime or its allies and sympathizers.

        (3) “Compensation” means the present value of wages and benefits that individuals should have been paid and damages for injuries sustained in connection with the labor performed. Present value shall be calculated on the basis of the market value of the services at the time they were performed, plus interest from the time the services were performed, compounded annually to date of full payment without diminution for wartime or postwar currency devaluation.

    (b) Any Second World War slave labor victim, or heir of a Second World War slave labor victim, Second World War forced labor victim, or heir of a Second World War forced labor victim, may bring an action to recover compensation for labor performed as a Second World War slave labor victim or Second World War forced labor victim from any entity or successor in interest thereof, for whom that labor was performed, either directly or through a subsidiary or affiliate. That action may be brought in a superior court of this state, which court shall have jurisdiction over that action until its completion or resolution.

    (c) Any action brought under this section shall not be dismissed for failure to comply with the applicable statute of limitation, if the action is commenced on or before December 31, 2010.

    VALIDITY

    This statute was recognized as preempted by United States foreign policy favoring settlement of such claims by International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, in the decision of Steinberg v. International Com'n on Holocaust Era Ins. Claims (App. 2 Dist. 2005) 34 Cal.Rptr.3d 944, 133 Cal.App.4th 689.

    This section was held unconstitutional in the decision of In re World War II Era Japanese Forced Labor Litigation,
N.D.Cal.2001, 164 F.Supp.2d 1160, 108 A.L.R.5th 743, affirmed 317 F.3d 1005, amended and superseded on denial of rehearing 324 F.3d 692, 192 A.L.R. Fed. 657, certiorari denied 124 S.Ct. 105, 540 U.S. 820, 157 L.Ed.2d 39, certiorari denied 124 S.Ct. 132, 540 U.S. 820, 157 L.Ed.2d 39, certiorari denied 124 S.Ct. 133, 540 U.S. 821, 157 L.Ed.2d 39.