Contacts:
Vartkes Yeghiayan
Yeghiayan & Associates
818-242-7400
[email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
September 16, 2008
BRITISH INSURANCE GIANT AVIVA IS 11TH INSURER SUED BY VICTIMS OF ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE
Los Angeles, CA–Descendants of the Armenian Genocide filed a class action
lawsuit yesterday against Aviva, a British Insurance company that is the
successor in interest to Norwich Union and Commercial Union, companies that
sold insurance to Armenians in Turkish Ottoman Empire prior to the 1915
genocide (Baghtchedjian and Papazyan et al vs. Aviva et al , U.S. District
Court, Central District of Calif.). The lawsuit seeks to recover life and
fire insurance benefits that were wrongfully withheld from beneficiaries of
those killed during the genocide . AVIVA is the 11th insurance company to be
sued on behalf of Armenian Genocide victims and their heirs.
Raffi Baghtchedjian and Nisan Papazyan, the lead plaintiffs of the federal
class action lawsuit, are suing on behalf of all Armenians who owned Norwich
Union life insurance and Commercial Union life and fire insurance policies
during the Armenian Genocide, and whose beneficiaries were never paid
insurance benefits. Baghtchedjian and Papazyan are represented by attorney
Vartkes Yeghiayan of Glendale-based Yeghiayan & Associates, who is
co-counsel for similar class action cases, including Marootian v. New York
Life Insurance Company, Kyurkjian v. Axa, Movsesian v. Victoria Versicherung
AG, and Deirmenjian, v. Deutsche Bank AG.
>From 1880 to 1915, many Armenians living in Turkey purchased life and fire
insurance policies from various European and American Insurance companies.
This case involves those who purchased policies from Norwich Union and
Commercial union. On April 24, 1915, the Turkish Ottoman Empire launched a
systematic campaign to destroy Armenians through a process of massacre and
deportation, known as the Armenian Genocide. Between 1915 and 1922,
approximately two million Armenians perished as a result.
Among the victims were the owners of life and fire insurance policies issued
by Norwich Union and Commercial union. "These companies never paid benefits
to victims of the Armenian Genocide or their heirs," says Yeghiayan.
In the lawsuit, Baghtchedjian and Papazyan are asking the federal court for
an order requiring Aviva to identify the insurance benefits that belong to
Armenians, identify the rightful heirs and to pay the benefits to them.
"For more than 93 years, Aviva and its subsidiary companies have been
holding millions of dollars that belong to the heirs of the victims of the
Armenian Genocide," says Yeghiayan. " No organization should be allowed to
profit from genocide, but until now, Aviva has had no incentive to identify
the rightful heirs and pay the money owed to them. With this federal
lawsuit, we intend to give them an incentive."
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For a copy of the complaint, contact Diane Zakian Rumbaugh, 805-493-2877,
[email protected].