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Judge paves way for payments for Nazi crimes

From Phil Hirschkorn
CNN New York Bureau

NEW YORK (CNN) - A federal judge Thursday dismissed lawsuits that had been blocking payouts from a $4.6 billion fund set up to compensate more than a million victims of the Nazis.

"I hereby grant the motion to dismiss the consolidated complaint," U.S. District Judge Shirley Wohl Kram said at an hour-long hearing.

Several of the plaintiffs -- most of them former Nazi slave laborers -- were in the courtroom to hear the news.

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The decision paves the way for payouts to begin from a fund of 10 billion deutsche marks in the German Industry Foundation, based in Berlin. Half the money came from German industry, the rest from the German government.

There are three classes of beneficiaries: former slave laborers, people with unpaid claims from German insurance companies and people whose assets were looted by the Nazis. Jews constitute a minority of those affected.

"We have the names, we're set to go," said Burt Neuborne, a plaintiffs' attorney who filed the suit four years ago.

Neuborne predicted that the foundation overseeing the disbursement of funds will meet next month and authorize a distribution plan.

The money is to be distributed through private organizations, such as victims' rights groups.

Under the deal, slave laborers would be entitled to 15,000 deutsche marks (about $6,750) each. Payoffs of claims for insurance and property losses would vary, depending on how much the claimant could prove was lost.

"It's obviously a big victory for the plaintiffs, who've been waiting," said Morris Ratner, a plaintiffs' attorney. "Today, we've gotten legal closure, and now it's just a matter of weeks before money goes to the victims."

"It's an important and long-overdue decision, but it is too little," said Wolfgang Gibowski, spokesman for the German Industry Foundation.

He said payments could begin before summer.

CNN Producer Shannon Troetel contributed to this report.

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