CA court rules against Armenian Genocide insurance claims

February 24, 2012 - 10:18 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - A California law that allows state courts to hear insurance claims by victims of the Armenian Genocide cannot stand, a full panel of the 9th Circuit Court ruled.

The ruling, written by Judge Susan Graber, said the California law trampled on U.S. foreign policy - the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government.

The decision cites Turkey’s threats against countries which seek to properly commemorate this crime and President Obama’s reticence to refer to the crime as ‘genocide’ in his annual commemorative statements as among the reasons for their conclusion that the law “has a direct impact upon foreign relations and may well adversely affect the power of the central government to deal with those problems.”

At that, California Legislature termed the 1.5 million Armenian deaths in the Ottomans Empire as Genocide.

Claims for unpaid life insurance policies dating back to the Armenian Genocide were first brought by plaintiff’s attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan. Attorneys representing plaintiffs include Brian Kabateck, Mark Geragos, and Lee Crawford Boyd.

The 9th Circuit case Movsesian v. Versicherung AG involves life insurance claims dating from the Armenian Genocide era.

In 2000, California passed a law, which extended the statute of limitations for life insurance claims that were never paid out, in some cases because insurance companies insisted heirs produce death certificates of relatives, who were murdered during the Armenian Genocide, before honoring the policies.

The California statute, which was introduced by former State Senator and current Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal Charles ‘Chuck’ Poochigian and former State Senator and current Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA), allowed California residents to file until December 31, 2010. The law has since been amended through legislation introduced by State Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-43), extending the statute of limitations to file claims until December 31, 2016.

Defendant German insurance companies, which are being represented by the Los Angeles office of Mayor Brown, have been joined by the Republic of Turkey in their attempts to strike down California’s law, claiming there is an “express federal policy” to prohibit states from any reference to the Armenian Genocide.