In Re: Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation

Filing 105

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ORDERING THE PRODUCTION OF INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTS IN IN RE ACCOUNTS OF EMMA BUDGE, HEIRS. Ordered by Senior Judge Edward R. Korman on 2/28/2012. (Greene, Donna)

FILED
IN CLERK'S OFFICE
US DISTRICT COURT E.D.N.Y.

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

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IN RE: HOLOCAUST VICTIM ASSETS
LITIGATION

This Document Relates to: All Cases

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BROOKLYN OFFICE
Case No. 09-160 (ERK)(JO)
(Consolidated with CV 96-4849,
CV 96-5161 and CV 97-461)

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FEB 2 8 2012

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

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MEMORANDUM & ORDER ORDERING THE PRODUCTION
OF INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTS IN IN RE ACCOUNTS OF EMMA BUDGE, HEIRS

KORMAN,J.:
As provided under the Settlement Agreement, and in accordance with the procedures
established in the December 8, 2000 Memorandum & Order and in the Plan of Allocation and
Distribution of Settlement Proceeds, the claimants, Hans Kahn, Wolf Kahn, Ruth Kahn, and the
Estate of Eva Ekvall, represented by Lothar Fremy and Mel Urbach, filed claims to the accounts of
the heirs of Emma Budge (the "claimed assets"). As the claimants and their representatives are
aware, the Zurich-based Claims Resolution Tribunal ("CRT") serves as the Court's administrative
agency for purposes of analysis of claims to Holocaust-era Swiss bank accounts, and operates under
the supervision of the Court and its Special Masters.
In support of their claims, on January 17,2012 Mr. Urbach submitted several hundred pages
of documents regarding the estate of Emma Budge, which Mr. Urbach acknowledged had never
before been submitted to the CRT for consideration with these claims.

The documents were

submitted as attachments to a memorandum advocating the payment of the entire amount of assets
held in Emma Budge's accounts at the Swiss bank, adjusted to current value. Mr. Urbach stated that
the original memorandum was written in German, and that he submitted an English translation. The
documents were submitted to support arguments put forth by Mr. Urbach in this memorandum. The

documents were not submitted in chronological order, and there are gaps in the dates of the
documents that were submitted. Documents that may provide additional information with regard to
the arguments set forth in the memorandum appear not to have been submitted to the CRT.
In the interest of the CRT's efficient completion of its analysis of these claims and to ensure
that the CRT has been provided with all relevant information that may be in the claimants'
possession concerning their claims to Holocaust-era Swiss bank accounts, it is hereby
ORDERED that on or before March 20, 2012, the claimants and/or their representatives
produce the original German version of the memorandum that was submitted to the CRT on January
17,2012;
ORDERED that on or before March 20, 2012, the claimants and/or their representatives
provide full and complete information regarding the re-opening of the Emma Budge estate, including
but not limited to official information regarding the naming of the new executor of the estate, an
official accounting of all estate assets, any restitution received for estate assets, and any estate assets
not yet distributed;
ORDERED that on or before March 20, 2012, the claimants and/or their representatives
produce any and all other documents in their possession relating to the claimed assets, including any
and all documents showing that any of the heirs of Emma Budge, or their heirs, received all or part of
the claimed assets upon the distribution(s) of the estate; and/or any and all documents referring to the
distribution(s) of the estate assets, including but not limited to any interim distribution reports, the
final report of the estate distribution (Schluss Abrechnung) dated July 12, 1956, and any accounting
for payment of estate taxes, income taxes and other expenses relating to the settlement of the estate;
ORDERED that on or before March 20, 2012, the claimants and/or their representatives
produce all decisions issued by any court or restitution body regarding any or all of the claimed
assets, including the claimed assets as a whole or any portion of the claimed assets assigned to the
individual heirs of Emma Budge or their heirs.

Alternatively, the claimants and/or their

representatives are ORDERED to provide an affirmative representation with regard to each of the
heirs, or their heirs, that no restitution was granted for any of the claimed assets;
ORDERED that on or before March 20, 2012, the claimants and/or their representatives
produce all decisions issued by any court or restitution body regarding any restitution received by the
claimants, the individual heirs of Emma Budge, or their heirs. With regard to restitution for financial
assets (i.e., non-real estate and non-art related assets), the claimants and/or their representatives are
ORDERED to provide all evidence, both supporting and opposing, regarding any conclusion that the
restituted assets did not originate from and/or bore no relationship to the assets distributed from the
Emma Budge estate.

Dated:

Brooklyn, New York
February 28,2012

SO ORDERED:

s/Edward R. Korman
Edward R. Korman
United States District Judge