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Nine Armenian charity groups to get $3 mil. of insurance settlement

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  • Nine Armenian charity groups to get $3 mil. of insurance settlement

    Associated Press
    Jan 22 2005

    Nine Armenian charity groups to get $3 million of insurance
    settlement

    The Associated Press

    Nine Armenian charitable groups will receive $3 million over the next
    two weeks as part of a $20 million settlement between an insurance
    company and descendants of Armenians killed nearly 90 years ago in
    the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

    Five organizations on the East Coast will each receive checks for
    more than $333,000 during a ceremony Wednesday in New York, the Daily
    News of Los Angeles reported. The remaining groups will receive
    payments at a second event being organized in Los Angeles.

    The organizations include New York's Armenian General Benevolent
    Union, New Jersey's Armenian Missionary Association of America, Inc.,
    and the Armenian Education Foundation, based in Glendale.

    "As the grandson of two genocide survivors, I'm particularly pleased
    to be handing money to these organizations, because these kinds of
    organizations helped my grandparents when they first arrived here,"
    said Brian Kabateck, an attorney in the lawsuit.

    Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they filed the class-action lawsuit
    to raise awareness of the deaths as well as to win unpaid life
    insurance benefits from New York Life Insurance Co.

    They contend that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in an act of
    genocide by the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Turkey rejects the genocide
    claim and maintains that Armenians were killed in civil unrest during
    the collapse of the empire.

    The legal agreement approved last July by U.S. District Court Judge
    Christina A. Snyder is believed to be the first ever in connection
    with the disputed event.

    At least $11 million was set aside for heirs of some 2,400
    policyholders while $4 million was to cover legal fees. Another $3
    million was earmarked for charities, with $2 million used for
    administrative costs and anything not spent on expenses going to
    charities.

    Potential heirs of policyholders have until March 15 to file a claim
    for a portion of the settlement.
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