Los Angeles Daily News
March 1 2005
‘This is a very meaningful thing’
Settlement, checks part of genocide suit
By Alex Dobuzinskis, Staff Writer
Four Armenian charities, including one in Burbank and another in
Glendale, on Monday received more than $333,000 from New York Life as
part of a $20 million class action settlement with descendents of the
1915 Armenian genocide.
The settlements were distributed during a ceremony in Pasadena
attended by representatives from the four charities, New York Life
officials and several attorneys.
“This is a very meaningful thing, recognition of the genocide,” said
Richard Mushegain, chairman of the lay council for the Burbank-based
Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America. “And it’s
something we pursued against the obstructions of the Turkish
government and sometimes our own government.”
Officials from the Armenian Educational Foundation in Glendale, the
Los Angeles office of the Armenian Relief Society and the Western
Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Los Angeles also received
checks.
All the charities received exactly $333,333.33. The Western Diocese
of the Armenian Church of North America plans to spend its share on
clergy education.
“During the genocide, a lot of the Armenian clergy were killed; in
fact, most of the Armenian clergy in the world were killed,”
Mushegain said. “It’s a fitting use of the money.”
The AEF has an annual budget of about $1 million, said Executive
Secretary Haigoush Keghinian-Kohler. But the money represents far
more than a boost to the group’s their budget.
“We have mixed emotions,” she said. “There is history attached to it.
There were lives that were wasted for no reason.”
The AEF’s board will decide later this month how to spend the money.
The charity runs after-school programs for Glendale students,
provides college scholarships and helps renovate and repair schools
in Armenia. The $20 million settlement, which New York Life agreed to
last year, ends a class action lawsuit on behalf of the descendents
of 2,400 policyholders, who were among the 1.5 million Armenians
killed in the Ottoman Empire 90 years ago. The charities and churches
receiving the money were chosen because they helped Armenians settle
in America after the genocide.
“The entire community will benefit as a result of this settlement,”
said state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi.
Descendents covered under the settlement have until March 15 to make
a claim, Garamendi said.