This case comes before us for the second time. Plaintiffs, which are various insurance companies and a trade association of insurance companies, brought the present action to enjoin Defendant Harry W. Low, the Insurance Commissioner of the State of California (Commissioner), from enforcing a California statute requiring disclosure of information about Holocaust-era insurance policies. The district court permanently enjoined enforcement of the statute. The main question for decision is this: May California constitutionally require the disclosure of insurance claims-related information by an insurance company that is licensed to do business in California even though the required information may be in the hands of a related entity that is located in a foreign country? We answer that question “yes” and, ac
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The Holocaust Victim Insurance Relief Act of 1999, Cal. Ins.Code §§ 13800-13807 (HVIRA), requires any insurer doing business in California that sold insurance policies to persons in Europe that wеre in effect between the years 1920 and 1945 (Holocaust-era policies) to file certain information about those policies with the Commissioner.
Plaintiffs filed four separate actions in which they sought to enjoin the enforcement of HVIRA. The original complaints were filed by
(1) Gerling Global Reinsurance Cоrp. of America and its affiliates (collectively, Gerling), who are, according to their complaint, “arguably ‘affiliated’ [with] ... or ‘related [to]’ ” two German insurers that issued Holocaust-era policies; (2) American Insurance Association (AIA), a nonprofit trade association of insurers whose member-insurers are required to report under HVIRA, and American Reinsurance Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of a German corporation “that has investment interests in European insurance companies that do issue insurance policies”; (3) Winterthur International America Insurance Company, its affiliates, and numerous other insurance and underwriting companies (collectively, Winterthur), who are “arguably ‘related companies’ ... with more than forty insurance companies currently located in Europe”; and (4) Assicurazioni Generali (Genera-li), an Italian insurance company that issued Holocaust-era policies and currently does business in California.
Gerling Global Reins. Corp. of Am. v. Low,
The district court issued an order granting Plaintiffs’ motions for preliminary injunction and enjoined enforcement of HVI-RA and its implementing regulations pending the entry of final judgments. The court based its preliminary injunction on a determination that Plaintiffs had established that (1) they probably would succeed under the foreign affаirs doctrine and the Commerce Clause, and (2) enforcement of the statute would cause Plaintiffs irreparable harm. The district court did not reach Plaintiffs’ other constitutional challenges to the statute.
The Commissioner appealed the district court’s decision. We rejected Plaintiffs’ Commerce Clause and foreign affairs doctrine challenges to the statute as a matter of law. Id. at 743, 751. However, we left the preliminary injunction in place “in order to give the district court an opportunity to consider whether Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits” of their due process claims. Id. at .754.
On remand, the district court conducted further proceedings and ultimately held that the statute violates Plaintiffs’ right to procedural due process by “mandating license suspension for non-performance of what may be impossible tasks without allowing for a meaningful hearing.” Gerling Global Reins. Corp. of Am. v. Low,
Plaintiffs moved for a determination that they were entitled to attorney fees as prevailing parties under 42 U.S.C. .§§ 1983, 1988. The district court denied their motion, and Plaintiffs timely appealed that decision as well.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
We review de novo the district court’s grant or denial of summary judgment. United States v. Alameda Gateway Ltd.,
LEGISLATIVE JURISDICTION
Key to Plaintiffs’ position in this appeal is the assertion that the California legisla
We'begin from the premise that a state legislature' possesses nearly plenary power to regulate state-licensed businesses and to seek information from entities that are licensed to do business within that state. “The wisdom of[a licensing disclosure] requirement is not for us to judge. For in the end, ‘it is for the legislature, not the courts, to balance the advantages and disadvantages of ... new requirement[s].’ ” Dittman,
We next emphasize what HVIRA does and does not do. We already have cautioned that Plaintiffs’ argument that HVI-RA “attempts to regulate the decision making authority of European insurance companies to pay or not to pay claims on European policies ... mischaracterizes HVIRA as .a matter of law.” Gerling I,
Plaintiffs rely heavily on Gerling Global Reinsurance Corp. of America v. Gallagher,
First, Gallagher is materially distinguishable. In Gallagher, information was demanded directly from both local and foreign entities,
Further, the Gallagher court held that the sole purpose of the Florida statute was the payment of Holocaust-era claims and that no other justification for the statute, such as the Florida licensees’ fitness to do business, had been properly advanced. Id. at 1239-40. By contrast, we construe HVIRA to have several legitimate purposes.
The second reason why we decline to adopt the reasoning of Gallagher is that it offers an interpretation of the legislative jurisdiction doctrine that conflicts with the relevant precedents, at least insofar as a statute like HVIRA is concerned. The legislative jurisdiction cases appear to fall into three different categories, each proscribing a certain type of legislative enactment, and HVIRA falls into none of them. We will discuss these three categories in turn.
A. Regulation of Out-of-State Entities on the Basis of Incidental Instate ■ Contacts
Several cases have held that the legislative jurisdiction doctrine bars states from directly regulating out-of-state entities unless those entities and their regulated activities have minimum contacts with the state. The analysis in these cases often parallels the analysis of whether the state would have personal jurisdiction over a party in the context of a judicial proceeding.
Thus, for instance, in Adventure Communications, Inc. v. Kentucky Registry of Election Finance,
Finally, in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota,
As we have explained previously, HVI-RA cannot properly be regarded as a statute that directly regulates foreign insurance companies. Although Plaintiffs complain that the practical effect of the statute is to force foreign companies to search through their records and compile the requested information, this characterization ignores a number of relevant facts. HVIRA places no direct demands on these foreign entities and does not impose any sanctions on them for noncompliance.
Additionally, California insurers can comply with the statute even in the absence of assistance from foreign affiliates, in at least two ways: The California insurer’s employees could travel overseas to examine the documents themselves, or the California insurer could disaffiliate and thus shed any reporting requirement. Either way, foreign insurers would bear no burden resulting from their affiliates’ compliance with HVIRA.
In summary, the statutes at issue in Adventure Communications, American Charities, and Quill Corp. are distinguishable from HVIRA because they directly regulated out-of-state businesses. By contrast, HVIRA directly regulates the behavior of only California insurers.
B. Regulation of the Substance of Out-of-State Transactions
A second line of cases addresses the extent to which a state may regulate, and
Thus, in Home Insurance Co. v. Dick,
Similarly, in Watson v. Employers Liability Assurance Corp.,
The Mississippi statutes, so construed, deprive the appellant of due process of law. A state may limit or prohibit the making of certain contracts within its own territory; but it cannot extend the effect of its laws beyond its borders so as to destroy or impair the right of citizens of other states to make a contract not operative within its jurisdiction, and lawful where made. Nor may it in an action based upon such a contract enlarge the obligations of the parties to accord with every local statutory policy solely upon the ground that one of the parties is its own citizen.
... A legislative policy which attempts to draw to thе state of the forum control over the obligations of contracts elsewhere validly consummated and to convert them for all purposes into contracts of the forum regardless of the relative importance of the interests of the forum as contrasted with those created at the place of the contract, conflicts with the guaranties of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Id. at 149-50,
More recently, in Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts,
HVIRA’s reporting provisions do not seek to regulate the substance of out-of-state transactions. The statute does not require insurers to pay any claims or otherwise alter the terms of Holocaust-era insurance policies.
Plaintiffs counter by asserting that the express purpose of HVIRA is to force California-licensed insurers and their foreign affiliates to pay any outstanding Holocaust-era claims long after the statute of limitations for such claims has run. However, this assertion ignores the fact that the statute has several other purposes as well. As we said in our previous opinion, it “also is likely that California’s legislature simply intended to protect its residents from insurance companies that have not paid valid insurance claims.” Gerling I,
Plaintiffs point to two other California statutes that, they contend, do seek to regulate the substance of foreign transactions. California Code of Civil Procedure § 354.5 allows California residents to bring claims for the payment of Holocaust-era insurance policies and extends the statute of limitations on such claims until December 31, 2010. California Insurance Code § 790.15 requires the Commissioner to suspend the certificate of authority of any insurer who has failed to pay claims on valid Holocaust-era policies. It may well be that these statutes were enacted in excess of California’s legislative jurisdiction. However, we reiterate that these separately enacted provisions are not before us.
C. Taxation of In-State Entities Arising From Transactions Conducted Entirely Out-of-State
In the third category оf precedents on which Plaintiffs rely, the Supreme Court has applied a due process analysis to state statutes taxing out-of-state insurance transactions. Under these cases, a statute may . exceed a state’s legislative jurisdiction if it taxes a foreign insurer disproportion
In Connecticut General Life Insurance Co. v. Johnson,
Plaintiffs argue that Connecticut General and Neill are indistinguishable from the case before us. They note that HVIRA requires California insurers to expend resources in order to disclose information about transactions that were entered into and performed (or not performed) entirely outside the state. Thus, they argue that HVIRA, like the statutory provisions analyzed in Connecticut General and Neill, imposes financial consequences on in-state insurance companies based on those companies’ out-of-state activities.
HVIRA is distinguishable from the statutes analyzed in Connecticut General and Neill because the only regulation that it imposes on Plaintiffs is a duty to disclose information, rather than to pay money to the regulating state. A state’s taxing the extraterritorial transactions of in-state insurance companies (thus gaining financially from a multi-jurisdictional entity’s revenues) and a state’s asking for information about those same transactions are qualitatively different requirements. The former is a form of direct regulation of the out-of-state transaction, and collects money on behalf of the state itself, while the latter is simply a means for the state to assure the
D. Conclusion
Were we to hold that a state may require companies operating within the state to report on only those out-of-state activities with which the state can claim minimum contacts, our logic would invalidate many existing reporting statutes.
In conclusion, the legislative jurisdiction analysis is inapplicable to HVIRA, because it does nothing more than seek information from California-licensed insurers. Therefore, the Commissioner need not prove that minimum contacts exist between California, Plaintiffs’ foreign affiliates, and the Holocaust-era policies issued by them. Instead, the state’s power to enact and enforce HVIRA is bounded only by other constitutional protections. It is to an analysis of these other protections that we now turn.
SUBSTANTIVE AND PROCEDURAL DUE PROCESS
The district court held that HVIRA violates procedural due process by “mandating license suspension for non-performance of what may be impossible tasks without allowing for a meaningful hearing.” Gerling II,
Regulated parties generally have a right to a meaningful hearing only with respect to those defenses actually allowed under a given statute. Thus, if a particular defense is deemed irrelevant under the statute, á party has no procedural due process right to a hearing with respect to that defense. Instead, the party’s only avenue of recourse is to declare that it has a right to present its chosen defense as a matter of substantive due process. See, e.g., Burlington N.R.R. v. Dep’t of Pub. Serv. Regulation,
Accordingly, the district court erred by not engaging in a two-step inquiry to determine, first, whether Plaintiffs were constitutionally entitled to raise foreign-affiliate and foreign-law defenses to HVIRA and, second, whether the statute provides Plaintiffs with the requisite level of process with respect to the defenses allowed under the statute. We will consider each aspect of this two-part analysis.
A. Substantive Due Process and the Proposed Defenses
Plaintiffs argue that, as a matter of substantive due process, they must be entitled to raise defenses premised on their lack of control over the required information or the illegality under foreign law of their disclosure of the information.
Because HVIRA neither employs a suspect classification nor infringes on a fundamental right, the applicable standard of review is the rational basis test. See Richardson v. City of Honolulu,
Plaintiffs counter that the sole express and implicit purpose of the law is to force California-licensed insurers and their foreign affiliates to pay Holocaust-era claims. They ask' us to reject the Commissioner’s assertion of alternative purposes. Although subjectively the legislature’s main purpose was to facilitate payment of Holocaust-era claims, we read the legislature’s declared purposes to be somewhat broader than that. See Cal. Ins.Code § 13801(c), (e) (stating in part that insurers may be the sole source of information about Holocaust-era policies and that insurers have a responsibility to disclose that information to the state).
More importantly, however, the legislature’s subjective or declared purpose is irrelevant in the context of rational basis review. A statute must be upheld under the rational basis analysis if it can be justified by any legitimate purpose, even one on which the government did not rely in еnacting the statute, and even if the statute does a poor job of advancing the intended aims. Dittman,
Faced with precedent suggesting that the California legislature’s actual subjective or declared purpose in enacting the statute is irrelevant, Plaintiffs next argue that HVIRA’s reporting requirements are not rationally related to any of the asserted purposes of the statute. They argue that the significance of the information requested under HVIRA cannot be analyzed meaningfully without considering whether Plaintiffs’ affiliates were legally obligated to pay policyholders under foreign law. Similarly, they contend that, if the statute were directed at the integrity of California .licensees, it would seek information not only on foreign affiliates’ payment of Holocaust-related claims in Europe between 1920 and 1945, but also on all other aspects of the affiliates’ claims-handling history. Further, they argue that there is no evidence of a relationship between Plaintiffs’ current claims-handling practices in California and the claims-handling practices of their foreign affiliates in Europe dating back more than half a cen
But, under the rational basis test, California need not demonstrate that the statute will actually serve the articulated purposes. Instead, the statute is constitutional if the legislature rationally could have believed that HVIRA would promote a legitimate objective. Dittman,
Having thus established that, in general, HVIRA is constitutional under .the rational basis test, we next must address whether the statute’s failure to provide for foreign-affiliate and foreign-law defenses is also rationally related to legitimate governmental interests. We conclude that, even assuming that the California licensees do not have control of information in the hands of their foreign affiliates and that disclosure pursuant to HVIRA violates European data protection laws, those facts do not make the statute unconstitutional because it was rational for the legislature to require disclosure as a condition to holding an insurance license in Californiа. We agree with the Commissioner that the suggested defenses would hamper the state’s ability to provide information to Holocaust victims and their families about potentially valid claims, to protect California citizens from insurance companies that have a history of refusing to pay valid claims or of refusing to inform potential beneficiaries about policy proceeds to which they may be entitled, and to inform California citizens about the character of the family of insurance companies from which they are contemplating buying insurance. California is entitled to condition the privilege of doing business in the state on the disclosure of information in which California has a legitimate interest.
Were a defense based on lack of control over requested information a requirement of substantive due process, an insurer could evade any kind of state disclosure statute or regulation simply by transferring all relevant documents to an affiliate over which it lacks direct control. Similarly, were a defense premised on foreign law requirеd-by due process, state regulatory efforts could be hindered by foreign statutes enacted for the purpose of shielding foreign corporations from routine reporting requirements.
Plaintiffs respond that, public policy notwithstanding, substantive due process requires that they be allowed to raise these defenses. They rely heavily on Societe Internationale Pour Participations Industrielles et Comerciales, S.A. v. Rogers,
By contrast, other persuasive precedents support the proposition that a statute may be constitutional yet at the same time make no allowance for an “impossibility” defense. See, e.g., Danfield v. Johns Manville Sales Corp. (In re Asbestos Litigation),
Because a defense based on lack of control over records or on the conflicting demands of foreign law would thwart the legitimate regulatory purposes of HVIRA, we find no violation of substantive due process.
B. Procedural Due Process Under HVI-RA
Plaintiffs argue that HVIRA is unconstitutional on its face because it makes no provision for a hearing prior to revocation of an insurance company’s license. The statute provides that “[t]he Commissioner shall suspend the certificate of authority to conduct insurance business in
Plaintiffs’ licenses to do business in California are protected property interests. See Bell,
Because HVIRA does not expressly provide for such a hearing, Plaintiffs assert that it is facially unconstitutional. What this argument fails to recognize is that, under California law, such a hearing must be implied into the statute. The state’s administrative procedure act requires the provision of those procedures that are required by the federal or state constitutions. Cal. Gov’t Code § 11410.10. Further, the California Supreme Court has established a presumption that hearing requirements should be inferred in a statute like HVIRA “unless the statute expressly provides to the contrary.” Fascination, Inc. v. Hoover,
Thus, when read in the context of other state law, HVIRA requires the Commissioner to hold a hearing before rеvoking the license of an allegedly noncomplying insurance company. He concedes that this is so. As properly and as actually interpreted, therefore, the statute is not facially unconstitutional for failure expressly to provide for a hearing.
OTHER CONSTITUTIONAL CLAIMS
In addition to making due process arguments, Plaintiffs claim that HVIRA violates the foreign affairs power of the United States, the Commerce Clause, the Bill of Attainder Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, the Fourth Amendment, and the Contract Clause. None of these arguments provides a persuasive alternative justification for affirming the district court’s decision.
A. Foreign Affairs Power and Commerce Clause
In response to Plaintiffs’ challenges based on the foreign affairs power and the Commerce Clause, we already have held that HVIRA is facially constitutional. Gerling I,
Plaintiffs now argue that, as applied, HVIRA runs afoul of these constitutional provisions.
Next, Plaintiffs argue that HVIRA constitutes a bill of attainder because the statute seeks to punish a specific person or group of persons for past conduct without a judicial trial. See U.S. Const, art. I, § 10, cl. 1. We disagree.
“Three requirements must be met to establish a violation of the bill of attainder clause: ‘[S]pecification of the affected persons, punishment, and lack of a judicial trial.’ ” United States v. Munsterman,
We consider three factors when determining whether “a statute inflicts punishment that implicates the Bill of Attainder Clause.” Fresno Rifle & Pistol Club, Inc. v. Van De Kamp,
First, the statute does not fall within the historical meaning of legislative punishment. The ultimate sanction available to the Commissioner, suspension of an insurer’s license to do business, may bе such a punishment. See Nixon v. Adm’r of Gen. Servs.,
Second, as discussed above, HVIRA furthers nonpunitive legislative purposes: providing data to Holocaust victims and their families about potentially valid claims, protecting California citizens from insurance companies that have a history of refusing claims or refusing to disclose information, and telling California citizens about the character of the family of insurance companies from which they are contemplating buying insurance.
Third, the legislative record does not evince an intent to punish foreign insurance companies or their California-licensed affiliates. As even Plaintiffs concede, the text of the statute and its legislative history demonstrate that the statute was subjectively intended as a means of facilitating payment of Holocaust-era policies.
C. Contract Clause
Plaintiffs assert that HVIRA violates the Contract Clause by attempting to modify the express terms, of European insurance policies. See U.S. Const, art. I, § 10, cl. 1. By doing so, they argue, HVI-RA would substantially impair the rights and responsibilities of parties to private contracts entered into decades ago and having no relation to California. As we have explained, this argument mischaracterizes the nature of the statute and the relevance of its definition of the term “proceeds.” HVIRA, as distinct from other California statutes whose constitutionality is not at issue here, does not compel payment of any Holocaust-era claim and does not alter the substance of any insurance contract. Accordingly, HVIRA does not violate the Contract Clause.
D. Equal Protection Clause
Plaintiffs argue that HVIRA violates equal protection. However, Plaintiffs do not assert that the statute treats them differently as a result of their membership in a protected class. Instead, they claim only that HVIRA imposes weightier reporting burdens on insurance companies that either directly or through related entities sold insurance policies in Europe from 1920 to 1945. In the circumstances, we evaluate the equal protection challenge under the ratiоnal basis test. W. & S. Life Ins. Co. v. State Bd. of Equalization of Cal.,
In this context, Plaintiffs again urge that the Commissioner can articulate no rational basis sufficient to justify the statute. However, for the reasons discussed above, we disagree. Consequently, the insurers have not demonstrated that HVIRA violates equal protection.
E.Fourth Amendment
Finally, Plaintiffs argue that HVI-RA violates the Fourth Amendment. Like the equal protection argument, however, this claim is simply a rearticulation of another argument: Because HVIRA purportedly exceeds California’s legislative jurisdiction, its investigation into the affairs of European insurance companies is an unconstitutional search. According to Plaintiffs, an investigation exceeds the scope of a governmental agency’s investigatory power if it is one that the demanding agency is not authorized to make. They cite in support of this proposition Oklahoma Press Publishing Co. v. Walling,
We have no quarrel with the general proposition. But HVIRA does not empower the Commissioner to make disclosure requests that exceed his constitutional authority. Therefore, the statute does not violate the Fourth Amendment in the manner argued.
ATTORNEY FEES
Plaintiffs assert that the district court abused its discretion by denying their motion for attorney fees. Because the district court improperly concluded that HVI-RA was unconstitutional, it also erred in concluding that Plaintiffs were “prevailing parties” for the purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1988. They are not entitled to fees.
HVIRA is not unconstitutional in any of the particulars argued by Plaintiffs. The district court erred in concluding otherwise.
REVERSED and REMANDED with instructions to vacate the injunction and to grant the Commissioner’s motion for summary judgment.
Notes
. The information that the insurance companies must provide is: (1) the number of Holocaust-era insurance policies; (2) the holder, beneficiary, and current status of each policy; and (3) the city of origin, domicile, or address for each policyholder listed in the policies. Cal. Ins.Code § 13804(a)(l)-(3). In addition, the insurer must certify that: (1) the proceeds of the policies were paid; or (2) the beneficiaries or heirs could not, after diligent search, be located, and the proceeds were distributed to Holocaust survivors or charities; or (3) a court of law has certified a plan for the distribution of the proceeds; or (4) the proceeds have not been distributed. The implementing regulations state that, if "the insurer states that it has no actual policies to report because the records are no longer in the possession of the insurer or its related company(ies), it shall provide a complete explanation of that statement.” Cal.Code Regs. tit. 10, § 2278.2(a). Any insurer who knowingly files false information is subject to a penalty not to exceed $5,000. Cal. Ins.Code § 13805.
. By regulation, the meaning of "reinsurer” is limited to directly related companies. Cal. Code Regs. tit. 10, § 2278.l(i).
. Florida’s insurance commissioner issued subpoenas addressed to Florida-licensed insurers and their foreign affiliates, demanding disclosure of a wide range of documents. Gallagher,
. The Eleventh Circuit acknowledged the importance to its analysis of the Florida statute's purpose:
We do not mean to say that the Commissioner is necessarily without authority to*839 investigate and obtain records regarding the practices of affiliates of Florida insurers. On the contrary, separate provisions of the Florida Insurance Code may well give the Commissioner authority tо conduct far-reaching inquiries into the affairs of a Florida insurer’s affiliates in order to determine whether the Florida insurer is fit to do business in the state....
We offer no view as to whether these provisions (which the Commissioner does not even invoke) might have authorized the subpoenas served by the Commissioner in this case; nor do we offer any view regarding the constitutionality of invoking those provisions in this context. Certainly these provisions fit more closely with the purpose now asserted by the Commissioner, and that fact may well affect the Due Process analysis. But the critical point is that these subpoenas were issued in furtherance of an investigation under the Holocaust Victims Insurance Act, and that Act is not' concerned with the financial stability or fitness of insurers doing business in Florida....
Gallagher,
. The Gerling and Winterthur Plaintiffs point to letters sent by the California State Treasurer to Plaintiffs’ foreign affiliates, urging the companies to help their California affiliates comply with HVIRA. However, these letters were requests, not demands, and carried with them no threat of direct sanctions. Foreign affiliates were and are frеe to ignore these entreaties. Accordingly, these letters cannot be characterized as a form of direct regulation imposed on foreign insurers.
Moreover, even if these letters were improper, they do not make the statute unconstitutional on its face. HVIRA places no demands directly on foreign insurers; if the Commissioner or other state officials erroneously do so, they do not alter the statute.
. Plaintiffs contend that HVIRA's definition of "proceeds,” Cal. Ins.Code § 13802(c), rewrites the terms of the foreign insurance policies because the parties to the insurance contracts never contemplated or bargained for such a definition. However, this definition of "proceeds” is for reporting purposes only and does not alter the substantive terms of, or obligations arising under, any insurance policy-
. In Gerling I, the district court held that Plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge these provisions, and Plaintiffs did not appeal this aspect of the court's decision.
. Notwithstanding the Commissioner's argument to the contrary, later decisions of the Supreme Court have not evisceratеd Connecticut General and Neill. Cases such as ASARCO Inc. v. Idaho State Tax Commission,
. We also question the force of authorities such as Connecticut General and Neill outside the context of taxation. We already have acknowledged that cases defining the outer limits of a state's power to tax are not always readily transferable to other contexts. See, e.g., Atonio v. Wards Cove Packing Co.,
. Examples of statutes that could be constitutionally problematic under Plaintiffs’ proposed analysis include: California Insurance Code § 699.5 (foreign subsidies); id. § 717 (qualifications for certificate of authority); id. §§ 1215-1215.16 (Insurance Holding Company System Regulatory Act); California Financial Code §§ 5800-5811 (savings and loan holding companies); id. §§ 10000-10009 (foreign savings companies).
. HVIRA does incorporate a "literal impossibility” defense. That is, if a company’s Holocaust-era records no longer exist, the statute does not require their disclosure. Cal.Code Regs. tit. 10, § 2278.2(a); Gerling II,
. Helping California residents recover on valid insurance claims is a legitimate governmental purpose. The record shows that many Holocaust survivors are poor; to the extent that information can facilitate their recovery of insurance (through the means that Plaintiffs themselves recognize as valid, or otherwise), it will ease the burden on the state’s fisc.
. Courts discussing Societe Internationale have interpreted the reach of its due process holding narrowly even in the context of discovery sanctions. See, e.g., Richmark Corp. v. Timber Falling Consultants, 959 F.2d 1468, 1474 (9th Cir.1992) ("Cases since Societe Internationale, however, have emphasized that a foreign-law prohibition will not always excuse compliance with a discovery order.”); United States v. Vetco, Inc.,
. As Plaintiffs Assicurazioni Generali, American Insurance Association, and American Reinsurance Company candidly admit, “[i]nsur-ers ask the Court to reconsider its holdings on their foreign affairs power and Foreign Commerce Clause claims.’" (Emphasis added.)
. The other legitimate purposes that we have discussed above, to the extent that they are reflected in the legislative record, likewise involve no intent to punish insurers.