FEDERAL APPEALS COURT STRIKES DOWN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE INSURANCE CLAIMS LAW
by Lou Ann Matossian
08-21-federal-appeals-court-strikes-down-armenian- genocide-insurance-claims-law
Friday August 21, 2009
Minneapolis – On August 20, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals struck down a California law that allowed the descendants
of Armenian Genocide victims to sue in state courts for unpaid
insurance benefits. The federal court ruled that the California law
was unconstitutional because it conflicts with what it characterized
as U.S. foreign policy not to recognize the Armenian Genocide as such.
"The federal government has made a conscious decision not to apply
the politically charged label of ‘genocide’ to the deaths of these
Armenians during World War I," wrote Judge David Thompson for the
majority of the three-judge panel. "Whether or not California agrees
with this decision, it may not contradict it."
In dissent, Judge Harry Pregerson said that although the federal
government declines to use the term "Armenian Genocide," he could
find no evidence that the states were barred from doing so.
"There is no express federal policy forbidding California from
using the term ‘Armenian Genocide’ in the course of exercising its
traditional authority to regulate the insurance industry," Judge
Pregerson wrote.
"I think the decision is outrageous," said plaintiffs’ attorney Brian
Kabateck, who vowed to appeal for a rehearing. "If taken to its logical
extension, what this decision means is that all 40 states that have
recognized the Armenian Genocide have to set aside that recognition,"
he told the Los Angeles Times.