44th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2000

RELATING TO THE PUBLIC PEACE, HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE; PROVIDING FORCED LABOR VICTIMS OF THE GERMAN AND JAPANESE GOVERNMENTS DURING WORLD WAR II WITH A CAUSE OF ACTION FOR COMPENSATION AGAINST THOSE ENTITIES THAT BENEFITED FROM THE FORCED LABOR; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. CAUSE OF ACTION--FORCED LABOR VICTIMS OF WORLD WAR II--LIMITATION OF ACTIONS.--

A. As used in this section:

(1) "compensation" means the present value of reasonable wages and benefits that forced labor victims should have been paid and damages for injuries sustained in connection with labor performed. The present value shall be calculated on the basis of the market value of the services performed at the time they were performed, plus interest from the time the services were performed, compounded annually without diminution for wartime or postwar currency devaluation; and

(2) "forced labor victim" means a person who, at any time between 1929 and 1946, was:

(a) taken from a concentration camp, home, ghetto or prisoner-of-war camp or diverted from transportation to a concentration camp, ghetto or prisoner-of-war camp;

(b) taken by the German or Japanese government or any ally or sympathizer of that government or by any entity transacting business in an area occupied by or under control of the German or Japanese government or any ally or sympathizer of that government; and

(c) forced to perform labor without pay.

B. A forced labor victim, or the heir or estate of a forced labor victim, may bring an action to recover compensation for labor performed against the person or successor in interest of the person for whom the labor was performed, either directly or indirectly through a subsidiary or affiliate. Each district court shall have original jurisdiction for a claim brought pursuant to the provisions of this subsection.

C. No action shall be brought pursuant to the provisions of this section after December 31, 2010. To the extent that a statute of limitations applicable to any claim for compensation is extended by the provisions of this section, that extension of the limitations period is intended to be applied retroactively, irrespective of whether the claim was otherwise barred prior to the enactment of this section.

Section 2. EMERGENCY.--It is necessary for the public peace, health and safety that this act take effect immediately.