Mass slaughtering of Armenians during World War I have never been recognized by the federal government as genocide, despite the state Legislature’s doing so nine years ago when it enacted the law in question.
Rep. Adam Schiff, who as a state assemblyman co-wrote the overturned law, could not be reached for comment.
Earlier Thursday he said he found the court’s reasoning perplexing.
“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,” Schiff told the Associated Press.
The state law gives relatives of Armenians who died or fled until the end of 2010 to file claims for bank accounts and life-insurance policies.
If the ruling stands, Armenian heirs would be prevented from claiming inheritances.
Class-action lawsuits brought by Armenian relatives across the county eventually led to $20-million and $17-million settlements in 2005.
The court’s ruling Thursday reversed one of a lower court judge who refused to dismiss another class-action suit against European insurance companies. Armenian National Committee members could not be reached for comment late Thursday.
The ruling would also prevent California and other states from observing the anniversary of the ethnic bloodshed — which between 1915 and 1919 claimed the lives of as many as 1.5 million Armenians, said Brian S. Kabateck, a Los Angeles lawyer representing the plaintiffs, whose own maternal grandparents died in the genocide.
Because the ruling does not apply retroactively, none of the California residents paid as part of earlier settlements must refund the money, he said.
CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO covers City Hall and the courts. He may be reached at (818) 637-3242 or by e-mail at christopher.cadelago@ latimes.com.
