426
Opinion of the Court
effectively singles out only policies issued by European companies, in Europe, to European residents, at least 55 years ago. Cal. Ins. Code Ann. § 13804(a) (West Cum. Supp. 2003); see also § 790.15(a) (mandating license suspension only for "fail[ure] to pay any valid claim from Holocaust survivors"). Limiting the public disclosure requirement to these policies raises great doubt that the purpose of the California law is an evaluation of corporate reliability in contemporary insuring in the State.
Indeed, there is no serious doubt that the state interest actually underlying HVIRA is concern for the several thousand Holocaust survivors said to be living in the State. § 13801(d) (legislative finding that roughly 5,600 documented Holocaust survivors reside in California). But this fact does not displace general standards for evaluating a State's claim to apply its forum law to a particular controversy or transaction, under which the State's claim is not a strong one. "Even if a plaintiff evidences his desire for forum law by moving to the forum, we have generally accorded such a move little or no significance." Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts, 472 U. S. 797, 820 (1985); see Allstate Ins. Co. v. Hague, 449 U. S. 302, 311 (1981) ("[A] postoccurrence change of residence to the forum State—standing alone—[i]s insufficient to justify application of forum law").
But should the general standard not be displaced, and the State's interest recognized as a powerful one, by virtue of the fact that California seeks to vindicate the claims of Holocaust survivors? The answer lies in recalling that the very same objective dignifies the interest of the National Government in devising its chosen mechanism for voluntary settlements, there being about 100,000 survivors in the country, only a small fraction of them in California. ER 870 (press release of insurance commissioner of California); Bazyler, 34 Rich. L. Rev., at 8, n. 11. As against the responsibility of the United States of America, the humanity underlying the
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