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Four States Issue Amicus Briefs In Support Of Plaintiffs In Armenian

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  • Four States Issue Amicus Briefs In Support Of Plaintiffs In Armenian

    FOUR STATES ISSUE AMICUS BRIEFS IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS IN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LIFE INSURANCE CASE

    armradio.am
    15.12.2011 14:48

    The states of California, Hawai'i, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Rhode
    Island, and also leading California state and federal legislative
    representatives, filed two amicus briefs this week, defending the
    rights of states to pass laws, referring to the Armenian Genocide,
    reported the Armenian National Committee of America.

    California Attorney General Kamala Harris was joined by Hawai'I
    Attorney General David Louie, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha
    Coakley, Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, and Rhode
    Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin in defending California's and
    other states' rights to enact legislation referring to the Armenian
    Genocide. The Attorneys General argued that "allowing the federal
    government to dictate to the states the words they may and may not
    use . . . raises a serious issue of federalism." They also noted that
    in contrast to other cases preempting state laws, "here no treaty,
    congressional resolution or executive agreement establishes a federal
    foreign policy that conflicts with, or displaces" the California
    statute at hand.

    California state and federal legislators, in their separate amicus
    brief, noted that "there is no precedent for holding a state statute
    preempted merely because of the terminology that it uses." To do so
    would render the foreign affairs doctrine "beyond recognition." They
    also assert that unlike other California statutes concerning
    Holocaust-era or World War II slave labor claims, which have been
    struck down, "there is no federal action to negotiate an international
    compensation regime for claims related to the Armenian Genocide."

    The amicus brief was filed on behalf of U.S. Representatives Jackie
    Speier (D-CA), Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Ed Royce (R-CA); Speaker of
    the California State Assembly John Perez (D-46); Majority Leader of
    the California State Assembly Charles Calderon (D-58); California
    State Senators Kevin de Leon (D-22) and S. Joseph Simitian (D-11),
    and; California State Assembly Members Katcho Achadjian (R-33), Mike
    Gatto (D-43), and Anthony Portantino (D-44). Former Supreme Court
    clerk Igor Timofeyev of the international law firm Paul Hastings
    represented the California legislators pro bono.

    "This case represents an opportunity for the Court to affirm the
    rights of Armenian Americans to seek justice in connection to unpaid
    Genocide-era insurance policies, and, more broadly, to help ensure
    that states have the right to regulate corporations that wrongfully
    deny the property rights of their citizens," explained ANCA Government
    Affairs Director Kate Nahapetian, who has helped coordinate community
    response to this issue.

    The Ninth Circuit case Movsesian v. Versicherung AG involves life
    insurance claims dating from the Armenian Genocide era. In 2000,
    California passed a law, which extended the statute of limitations
    for life insurance claims that were never paid out, in some cases
    because insurance companies insisted heirs produce death certificates
    of relatives, who were murdered during the Armenian Genocide, before
    honoring the policies. The California statute, which was introduced by
    former State Senator and current Associate Justice of the California
    Court of Appeal Charles 'Chuck' Poochigian and former State Senator
    and current Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA), allowed California
    residents to file until December 31, 2010. The law has since been
    amended through legislation introduced by State Assemblyman Mike
    Gatto (D-43), extending the statute of limitations to file claims
    until December 31, 2016. Defendant German insurance companies have
    been joined by the Republic of Turkey in their attempts to strike
    down California's law, claiming there is an "express federal policy"
    to prohibit states from any reference to the Armenian Genocide.

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