FEDERAL COURT VALIDATES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOVERY STATUTE

Glendale, California – December 15, 2010

On December 10, 2010, in the case Movsesian v. Victoria Versicherung, the Ninth Circuit United States Court of Appeals upheld the validity of a California law which extends the statute of limitations to file claims arising out of life insurance policies issued to Armenian Genocide victims.  Reversing its own August 20, 2009 ruling which had found the California statute to be unconstitutional because it contradicted a U.S. federal policy against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the court now found that the law is consistent with a proper exercise of the state’s power because “there is no clearly established federal policy forbidding state references to the Armenian Genocide.” 

The initial case brought on behalf of the heirs of Armenian Genocide victims was supported by the extensive legal work of Brian S. Kabateck of Kabateck Brown Keller LLP, Mark J. Geragos and Shelley Kaufman of Geragos & Geragos, and Vartkes Yeghiayan of Yeghiayan Law Firm. On the appellate level, four amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) briefs supplementing information and arguments provided to the Court were submitted in support of the positions taken by the Armenian plaintiffs. 

“This is