Articles
Berlin, May 16, 2007
– Three Armenian-American Attorneys, Vartkes Yeghiayan, Brian
Kabatek, and Mark Geragos, are in Berlin, Germany seeking to meet
with officials from Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank in regards to
lawsuits arising from their involvement in Turkey during the
Armenian Genocide Period. (click links below for more....)
PanArmenian.net
(English) May 16, 2007
Hairenik.com
(English)
Armtown.com
(German) May 16, 2007
Rurweb.de (German)
D_Armenier.de
(German)
Highlights
- Clay Award
Vartkes Yeghiayan Receives 2006 Clay Award
SAN FRANCISCO,
March 2, 2006 – Out of more than 200,000 attorneys California
Lawyer Magazine chose attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan, to be among
the few attorneys which will receive the prestigious California
Lawyer Attorney’s of the Year Award in litigation. The CLAY
Award recognizes those attorneys throughout the state whose work
has had a profound, far-reaching impact over the past year. The
attorneys honored changed law, broke new ground in various
practice areas, and substantially influenced public policy.
Armenian-American lawyer Vartkes Yeghiayan, and others were
recognized for their work in reaching two settlements of $20
million and $17.5 with insurance companies on behalf of
descendants of Armenians killed during the Armenian Genocide.
Martin Marootian, et al. v. New York Life Insurance Company and
Kyurkjian, et. al. v. AXA were momentous since they represent
the oldest resolved cases in U.S. History – 90 years passed
between the events giving rise to these cases and their
settlement. They are also the first recorded cases addressing
issues involving the Armenian Genocide.
Through these cases, Yeghiayan, felt honored to have helped
people understand the magnitude of the atrocities committed
during the Armenian Genocide.
- Glendale Public Library
Vartkes Yeghiayan at the Glendale Public
Library
LOS ANGELES, January 17, 2007 - Vartkes Yeghiayan announced the
publication of his book The Case of Misak
Torlakian. The book is about a defendant who is
acquitted at the expense of the state treasury. In the
accordance with the decision of the jury, the defendant is not
guilty of punishable act with which he has been charged.
The Charge was murder. The defendant, Misak Torlakian, shot
Bibhub Khan Javanshir outside the Per Palace Hotel in
Constantinople (Istanbul) on July 18, 1921, yet he was found not
guilty. The Case of Misak Torlakian, a new book by Attorney
Vartkes Yeghiayan and Ara Arabyan, reveals the trial transcript
concerning the Armenian Ottoman subject who was tried and
acquitted by a British Military Court on the charge of murdering
the Ex-Minister of the Interior of Azerbaijan.
The book provides an examination of the legal process of a
British Military Court after the Armenian genocide. History,
theology, philosophy, physiology, psychology and politics were
used by the attorneys during the trial. As a result, the
landmark legal case became not just a murder trial, but also a
study of the political, social and economic strategies in the
Middle East and a discussion of the rivalries between Armenians,
Azeris, Turks, the British and Bolsheviks for control of oil.
The author, Glendale attorney Vartkes
Yeghiayan, recently reached a $20 million settlement between new
York Life Insurance and the heirs of Armenian genocide victims
and Armenian charitable organizations.
-
AGREEMENT IS REACHED TO SETTLE
ARMENIAN INSURANCE POLICIES FROM 1915
LOS
ANGELES, January 28, 2004 - New York Life Insurance Company has
reached an agreement with plaintiffs' attorneys to resolve more
than 2,000 insurance policies issued to Armenians in the Turkish
Ottoman Empire prior to 1915. As part of the class action
settlement agreement, New York Life will pay all valid claims
relating to these policies and will also contribute at least $3
million to Armenian civic organizations. The total value of the
settlement is $20 million, including
administrative costs and plaintiffs' attorney's fees.
Sy Sternberg, chairman and chief executive of New York Life,
said, "When it became clear that many of our Armenian
policyholders perished in the tragic events of 1915, New York
Life hired an Armenian lawyer in the region to assist the heirs
of those who died, so as to promptly pay claims. Time after
time, the company would waive normal claims procedures and
reinstate lapsed Armenian policies in order to pay the heirs.
Records confirm that the company succeeded in paying benefits in
about a third of those Armenian policies. Our willingness today
to resolve policies that may remain unpaid from that era shows
that New York Life adheres to the same values of integrity and
humanity that guided us then."
As part of the class action settlement New York Life will
contribute $3 million to Armenian organizations that were
instrumental in providing humanitarian aid to those displaced
from Armenia and to other associations active in the community
today. Attached is a list of the nine organizations that the
parties have agreed will equally share the $3 million.
New York Life expressed gratitude to Commissioner John Garamendi
of the California Department of Insurance for his personal
involvement in helping them reach an amicable agreement.
In light of the settlement agreement, New York Life and
plaintiffs' attorneys have informed a federal court in Los
Angeles that an agreement has been reached to resolve the
matter. If the court approves the settlement the pending lawsuit
will be dismissed.
-
ARMENIAN HEIR
SETTLE AXA CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT
LOS ANGELES
-- Oct 12, 2005 -- Descendants of victims of the 1915 Armenian
Genocide will share a $17.5 million settlement in a class action
lawsuit brought against French insurance giant AXA for unpaid
life insurance benefits. (Kyurkjian, et al. v. AXA, Case No: CV
02-01750 and Ouzounian, et al., v. AXA, Case No: CV 05-02596,
U.S. District Court, Central District of California).
The class includes Armenians living in the United States and
abroad who are descendants and heirs of policyholders who
perished in what is considered the first genocide of the 20th
century. The settlement, subject to court approval, will be
administered in France, which was one of the first countries to
recognize the Armenian Genocide. AXA is headquartered in France
and does business in the United States through various
subsidiaries.
Under the terms of the $17 million settlement, AXA will donate a
minimum of $3 million to various France-based Armenian
charitable organizations and will contribute $11 million towards
a fund designed to pay, under procedures to be determined later,
valid claims of heirs of policyholders and beneficiaries of
policies issued by AXA Group subsidiaries that did business in
the Turkish Ottoman Empire prior to 1915. Certain 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.
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