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New York Life reaches settlement on Armenian Policies
LOS ANGELES (BestWire) - New York Life Insurance Co. said it has reached an
agreement in principle to settle a class of claims stemming from the 1915
massacre of Armenians in what was then the Ottoman Empire. New York Life
said that as part of the agreement to settle a class-action lawsuit brought
on behalf of Armenian survivors and descendants of victims, it will
contribute $3 million to Armenian civic organizations. The agreement should
lead to an end of the lawsuit, said William Werfelman, a vice president and
spokesman for New York Life. "As long as a court approves the settlement
agreement, we should be operating within a framework for resolving the
outstanding policies," he said. "So we would be looking ahead to a time
when the court would approve the agreement reached between New York Life
and the plaintiffs." New York Life's archives show that 3,647 Turkish
Armenian policies were sold in the relevant time frame, he said. "Of those,
about a third were paid," he said. "That leaves 2,186 policies that are at
issue in the settlement. Those are the policies which, despite our best
efforts following the 1915 events, we were unable to find heirs or
beneficiaries for at the time." As part of the agreement in principle, the
company will pay all valid claims related to life insurance policies it
sold in the Ottoman Empire--now Turkey--before 1915. "We have a fair and
equitable agreement in principle that the parties are confident a court
will approve," said Werfelman. "Both sides recognize that under very
difficult circumstances in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, and for years
thereafter, New York Life paid benefits to beneficiaries and heirs on
policies sold to Turkish Armenians." The settlement would close the
class-action lawsuit brought against New York Life in U.S. District Court
in Los Angeles in November 1999 on behalf of policyholders and their
defendants. Brian Kabateck, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said that as
part of the settlement, New York Life will publish a list of families who
bought life insurance in Turkey just prior to the 1915 events. New York
Life is withdrawing a motion to dismiss the class-action lawsuit. The
motion had been filed "to address a jurisdictional issue," Werfelman said.
Walter Karabian, an Armenian-American community leader and former
California Assembly majority leader, praised New York Life both for its
settlement efforts and for its actions immediately after the 1915 massacre
began. "Many people are unaware of how responsibly New York Life acted
after the genocide of 1915," he said in a statement. "It went so far as to
hire an Armenian lawyer in Turkey to seek out beneficiaries and heirs of
those who were massacred, so as to promptly pay their claims." California
Gov. Gray Davis last fall signed a new law that allows victims of the
Armenian genocide and their heirs to sue insurance companies to recover
delinquent claims (BestWire, Oct. 5, 2000). From 1915 to 1920, the Ottoman
Empire in Turkey killed more than 1.5 million men, women and children of
Armenian heritage, and drove millions more from their homes in what is
commonly described as the first episode of genocide in the 20th century.
The law is similar to one that allows Holocaust victims and their heirs to
sue insurers in California that may have European affiliates or parent
companies that owe outstanding claims. The bill, sponsored by state Sen.
Charles Poochigian, R-Fresno, also waives the statute of limitations if the
legal action is brought before 2010. (By David Pilla, senior associate
editor, BestWeek: David.Pilla@ambest.com)
Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News Archives