Armenians have been told by the court that the use of the word ‘genocide’ is illegal.
By LISA LEFF (AP) – 10 hours ago
SAN FRANCISCO – A federal appeals court invalidated a California law Thursday that allowed heirs of Armenians killed in the Turkish Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago to seek payment on the life insurance policies of dead relatives.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law amounted to unconstitutional meddling in U.S. foreign policy.
It based its 2-1 ruling on a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down another California law designed to help Holocaust survivors collect on Nazi-era insurance policies.
The federal government does not recognize the mass killings of Armenians during World War I as genocide, but the California Legislature did in 2000 when it enacted the disputed law.
About half of the people of Armenian descent living in this country reside in California.
Lawyer Brian Kabateck, who represents Armenian-American heirs, plans to appeal.
“The ruling is wrong. It’s a disaster,” Kabateck said. “The one million Armenians that live in California today have been told by the court that even the use of the word ‘genocide’ by a government is illegal.”
If the ruling is not set aside, it would prevent Armenian heirs from claiming inheritances and prohibit California and other states from marking the anniversary of the onset of the ethnic bloodshed that claimed the lives of up to 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1919 in what is now eastern Turkey, Kabateck said.
He alleges European banks and insurers illegally retained assets valued in 1915 at about $15 million, a sum worth substantially more at today’s value.
The California Legislature passed the law giving heirs of Armenians who died or fled to avoid persecution until the end of next year to file claims for old bank accounts and life insurance policies.
Class-action lawsuits brought by Armenian descendants in California and other states led to a $20 million settlement with New York Life Insurance Co. in 2005 and a $17 million settlement the same year with French life insurer AXA.
William Werfelman, a spokesman for New York Life, said the company had no intention of trying to get back any of the money it paid out under the 2005 settlement.
“By acting honorably, and in keeping with our company values of humanity and integrity, New York Life made many friends in the Armenian community and we cherish these friends,” Werfelman said.
Thursday’s ruling reversed a lower court judge who refused to dismiss another class-action suit against the German life insurance companies.
Turkey long has denied the loss of so many Armenian lives constituted genocide and instead describes the deaths as resulting from civil unrest that accompanied the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
The appeals court agreed with the German companies that California’s policy improperly conflicted with the federal government’s foreign policy aims.
Neil Soltman, the lawyer who represented the German insurance companies that prevailed in the case, said his clients had stood to lose in payouts to Armenian-Americans in California. Soltman said it was not clear the companies ever sold life insurance policies to victims of the Ottoman Empire violence.
“We are very pleased with the decision. We think it is entirely consistent with recent Supreme Court cases and 9th Circuit cases which have held that California and other states should not be passing legislation that deals with questions of foreign affairs,” he said.
The court recounted successful efforts by former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to defeat congressional legislation that would have recognized an Armenian genocide.
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, who as a state assemblyman co-wrote the law that was overturned by the 9th Circuit, was perplexed by the court’s reasoning.
“You have a group of people that has a government that hasn’t had the will to recognize the genocide and as a result of that failing, are being told they don’t have valid insurance claims,” he said.
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From: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/State-can-t-let-Armenian-victims-heirs-sue-3220858.php
State can’t let Armenian victims’ heirs sue
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, August 20, 2009
(08-20) 14:25 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — A California law allowing heirs of victims of the Armenian genocide to sue in state courts for unpaid insurance benefits is unconstitutional because it conflicts with U.S. foreign policy, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
The law contradicts past presidents’ opposition to describing Turkey’s slaughter of as many as 1.5 million Armenians as a genocide, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said in a 2-1 ruling.
The same panel struck down another California law Wednesday allowing owners of art stolen by the Nazis to sue for recovery of their possessions until the end of 2010.
The court ruled that both laws intruded into the federal government’s exclusive authority over foreign affairs. State and federal courts have also have invalidated California laws that would have allowed suits over Holocaust-era insurance benefits and slave labor during World War II.
“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,” said Judge David Thompson, who wrote the majority opinions in both Wednesday’s and Thursday’s rulings. “Whether or not California agrees with this decision, it may not contradict it.”
The case decided Thursday was brought by a Southern California man of Armenian descent whose class-action suit accused insurance companies of failing to pay benefits on their policies.
His lawyer said he would ask the full appeals court for a rehearing.
The attorney, Brian Kabateck, said there was no conflict between the state law and federal policy. About 40 states have passed resolutions recognizing the Armenian genocide, with no public objections by the U.S. or Turkish governments, he said.
Neil Soltman, lawyer for one of the insurance companies in the case, said the ruling was consistent with past decisions overturning “efforts by California to adopt legislation which interferes with one or another aspect of the national government’s foreign policy.”
The law, passed in 2000, refers to mass killings, death marches and other abuses of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923 as the Armenian genocide, a description that most historians also accept. The measure allows victims’ descendants to sue insurers doing business in California for unpaid benefits until the end of 2010.
The court said national policy on the issue was defined by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who opposed congressional resolutions that described the killings as a genocide. The presidents’ warnings that any such measure would damage U.S. relations with Turkey persuaded House leaders to drop the resolutions without a floor vote three times, the court said.
President Obama said during his campaign that the nation deserves “a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian genocide.” But he refrained from using the term during a trip to Turkey in April. His administration has not taken a position in the court case.
E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.
Yeghern8/20/2009 4:53:29 PM Since when are States forbidden to deal with genocide issues?Lets close down museums and change school curriculums for fear of offending the Turkish ambassador who wrote to the US Federal Judges telling them to stay out of genocide!Devastating decision for US justice.. |
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purkel8/20/2009 4:33:48 PM The USA should not overlook any evidence of ethnic cleansing or genocide. Shame on Clinton and Bush. |
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username withheld8/20/2009 4:01:09 PM This comment violated SFGate’s Terms and Conditions, and has been removed. |
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