Armenian victims' heirs to get checks
By Vanessa Colón / The Fresno Bee11/12/06 05:53:14
Some heirs of Armenian genocide victims will get a surprise in their Fresno mailboxes this week: a hefty check.
More than 30 descendants in Fresno might each receive a payment of between $1,000 and $44,000.
The money comes from a $7.9 million settlement reached between New York Life Insurance Co. in New York and heirs of genocide victims under the Turkish Ottoman empire. Between 1915 and 1923, 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Turkish Ottoman empire. The settlement was reached in 2004.
Anahid Eleazarian of Fresno is among those expecting a check. Her father was a college professor who had a New York Life insurance policy. Eleazarian was 3 years old when her father was captured and killed during the genocide. Surviving family members moved to Lebanon, where four of the six siblings stayed. She left Lebanon in 1947 for the United States and settled in Fresno in 1949.
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.
William Werfelman, a spokesman for New York Life, said: "New York Life has made many friends in the Armenian community as a result of the positive outcome of this case. It is great to see another milestone reached in the process."
The class-action lawsuit alleged the company owed unpaid life insurance benefits. New York Life agreed to resolve more than 2,000 insurance policies issued to Armenians before 1915 and contribute $3 million to Armenian civic organizations.
Of the thousands of claims reviewed, only 2,515 could be traced to Armenians who purchased policies before 1915. Payments depend on the amount of the policy purchased. Armenians in Armenia will receive more than half of the settlement — $3.4million. Armenians in the United States will share $2.6 million, and Armenians in France will split $656,413.
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."
The reporter can be reached at vcolon@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6313.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Some heirs of Armenian genocide victims will get a surprise in their Fresno mailboxes this week: a hefty check.
More than 30 descendants in Fresno might each receive a payment of between $1,000 and $44,000.
The money comes from a $7.9 million settlement reached between New York Life Insurance Co. in New York and heirs of genocide victims under the Turkish Ottoman empire. Between 1915 and 1923, 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Turkish Ottoman empire. The settlement was reached in 2004.
Anahid Eleazarian of Fresno is among those expecting a check. Her father was a college professor who had a New York Life insurance policy. Eleazarian was 3 years old when her father was captured and killed during the genocide. Surviving family members moved to Lebanon, where four of the six siblings stayed. She left Lebanon in 1947 for the United States and settled in Fresno in 1949.
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.
William Werfelman, a spokesman for New York Life, said: "New York Life has made many friends in the Armenian community as a result of the positive outcome of this case. It is great to see another milestone reached in the process."
The class-action lawsuit alleged the company owed unpaid life insurance benefits. New York Life agreed to resolve more than 2,000 insurance policies issued to Armenians before 1915 and contribute $3 million to Armenian civic organizations.
Of the thousands of claims reviewed, only 2,515 could be traced to Armenians who purchased policies before 1915. Payments depend on the amount of the policy purchased. Armenians in Armenia will receive more than half of the settlement — $3.4million. Armenians in the United States will share $2.6 million, and Armenians in France will split $656,413.
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."
The reporter can be reached at vcolon@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6313.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 9:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home