Compiled by Sylvia Bourdjian-Matta
Settlement checks totalling $7,954,362.24 will be distributed this week to more than 2,500 Armenian descendants of victims massacred in the 1915 Armenian Genocide. The checks are a share of a multi million dollar settlement in a class action lawsuit brought against New York Life Insurance Company for unpaid life insurance benefits. In addition, $3 million has been already distributed to various Armenian charitable organizations.
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The board reviewed thousands of claims and found that 2,515 claims could be traced to Armenians who had purchased life insurance policies from New York Life prior to 1915. More than 600 policies were not claimed because there are no heirs; said Glendale-based attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan. That money will go toward Armenian charitable organizations. Yeghiayan said it took a long time to distribute the settlement money because documents had to be translated from seven languages, including Arabic, Armenian and Turkish.
New York Life provided a list of names that was placed on a Web site so families could determine whether their ancestors had purchased policies. Only 11 heirs had a copy of the policy. The rest found out through the Web site: www.armenianinsurancesettlement.com.
Documents such as birth certificates, death certificates and marriage certificates were used to trace family lineage.
Following the New York Life case, the same lawyers reached a $17 million settlement in 2005 between heirs of Armenian genocide victims and French life insurance company AXA, Yeghiayan said. The lawyers are waiting to get a list of names from AXA so families can find out who's eligible to receive money.
Earlier this year, the same attorneys filed a class-action suit against two German banks, he said. They are seeking to recover millions of dollars of alleged bank deposits of Armenian genocide victims.
Yeghiayan said of the New York Life settlement: “It's nice to get one out of the way.”
“We are thrilled that thousands of Armenians will finally get the insurance compensation they deserve,” says Brian Kabateck, partner with Kabateck Brown Kellner, LLP and one of the lead attorneys who represented the Armenian heirs. “Armenians don't give up easily and this settlement is a testament to that.”
“Although compensation is about 90 years late, we're still pleased that Armenians are receiving some of what is owed them,” says Mark Geragos, partner with Geragos & Geragos, another of the lead attorneys in the case. In addition toVartkes Yeghiayan of Yeghiayan & Associates, Kabateck and Geragos represented the plaintiffs in the case. All are of Armenian decent.
Letters will be mailed to all claimants. Checks will be included to claimants awarded compensation. Of the nearly $8 million in settlement checks, Armenians in
Anahid Eleazarian of
States and settled in
Now 94, Eleazarian said she doesn't know how much money she'll get but she will share it with her brothers' and sisters' children. She says she's the only one among her siblings to see this day come. In her eyes, the money is secondary.
Most important, she said, is that “they are acknowledging” the genocide.? The Turkish government says the deaths were the result of civil unrest, not genocide.
