Genocide families get $17M payout
Descendants of victims of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, many of whom
are Glendale residents, will share $17 million in restitution as part
of the settlement of a federal class-action case announced Wednesday.
The claim was brought forth by seven Armenian Americans, some of whom
live in Glendale, said Mark Geragos, the attorney who filed the
claim.
The settlement was reached with French insurance company AXA Group
for unpaid life insurance policies, said Geragos, whose grandparents
and great-grandparents came to the United States to flee the
genocide.
The settlement must be approved at a hearing in a Los Angeles
federal court Nov. 14, Geragos said.
If the settlement is approved, the attorneys will advertise for
class-action members who will have a chance to prove their damages,
he said.
“I cannot guestimate how big this class will be but the amount of
money per person would appear to be outstanding for a class-action
suit,†Geragos said.
An estimated 1.5 million Armenians perished at the hands of the
Ottoman Turks during the genocide of 1915.
It is the oldest case in terms of the date of damages to the date
of settlement, Geragos said.
Under terms of the settlement, AXA will donate a minimum of $3
million dollars to France-based Armenian charitable organizations and
contribute $11 million toward a fund designed to pay restitution for
valid claims of heirs of policyholders issued by AXA Group
subsidiaries that did business in the Turkish Ottoman Empire prior to
1915, Geragos said.
Some of these policyholders and beneficiaries were among the 1.5
million Armenians who perished and were unable to obtain their
insurance proceeds in the ensuing chaos, he said.
The case could be filed in the U.S. because French-based AXA does
business in the United States through various subsidiaries, Geragos
said.
While the restitution is significant, recognition of the genocide
is important to many Armenian Americans.
“This is yet another step in the pursuit of justice toward the
restitution for victims of the Armenian Genocide,†said Zanku
Armenian, a board member of the Western Region of the Armenian
National Committee based in Glendale. “Second, the settlement has to
be approved by a federal court, which means it recognizes the events
of 1915 and that it was a genocide.â€
Geragos and Armenia also support a resolution in the U.S. House of
Representatives that would recognize the events of 1915 as a
genocide.
There are still some living survivors but most in the class are
descendants, Armenian said.
“The real point of all this is to show there is some level of
restitution and justice delivered to the victims or their
descendants,†Armenian said. “With each one of these steps the
Turkish government has to come to terms with its past.â€
About 40% of Glendale’s population is of Armenian descent, which
is the highest concentration anywhere outside of the Republic of
Armenia, Armenian said.
Geragos and fellow attorneys Vartkes Yeghiayan, and Brian S.
Kabateck -- all of Armenian descent -- represented Armenian
descendants in a separate class action in which New York Life agreed
to pay $20 million to descendants of Armenian policyholders killed
during the genocide.
About 3,000 claimants came forward, not all of whom will be
accepted as part of the class action, Geragos said.o7
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