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CONTACTS:
Brian Kabateck Mark
Geragos
Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP Geragos &
Geragos
213-217-5000 213
625-3900
[email protected]
[email protected]
Cell: 310-780-2309
Diane Zakian Rumbaugh Vartkes
Yeghiayan
Rumbaugh Public Relations Yeghiayan
Law Firm
805-493-2877
818-242-7400
[email protected]
[email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 11,
2007
Armenian-American Attorneys Meet With German Officials/
Deutsche & Dresdner Bank, Defendants in Armenian Genocide-Related Case,
Refuse to Meet
BERLIN, GERMANY--Three Armenian-American attorneys, Brian S.
Kabateck, Mark J. Geragos and Vartkes Yeghiayan, are in Berlin, Germany
seeking to meet with officials from Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank over
lawsuits stemming from the 1915 Armenian Genocide in what is now Turkey.
So far, the banks refuse to meet. The attorneys filed a lawsuit last
year against Deutsche and Dresdner Banks charging the two banks held
Armenian families' money and assets that had been deposited in their
banks before 1915 and retained assets looted by the Turkish government.
(Varoujan Deirmenjian, et. al. v. Deutsche Bank, A.G., Dresdner Bank,
A.G., et. al., January 13, 2006, Los Angeles Superior Court).
The attorneys met with German officials while in Berlin
yesterday. The attorneys believe the meeting was productive. The content
of the meeting is confidential. At a news conference after the meeting,
Kabateck, Geragos and Yeghiayan discussed the present status of the suit
against Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank and asked that the banks be good
corporate citizens and sit down to discuss resolution of the claims
against them.
"The German government has been very admirable in
acknowledging the Armenian Genocide," says Kabateck, partner with the
Los Angeles, California-based Kabateck Brown Kellner. "Turkey says it
didn't happen. It is shameful that Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank are
acting more in line with Turkey and do not feel obligated to return
assets rightfully belonging to Armenians. It just adds to the disregard
and degradation of a group of people that have suffered horribly."
Deutsche Bank's attorneys in the United States state that
the banks will not meet with the plaintiff's attorneys until pending
motions seeking its attorneys' disqualification for tampering with
plaintiff's expert consultant are withdrawn. "Deutsche Bank's
precondition to meet with us appears to be a tacit recognition of the
strength of our expert tampering charges," says Mark Geragos, partner
with Geragos & Geragos. "At this point, just about all the Armenians
who lived through the genocide have passed away. The German banks
probably think if they wait long enough, no one will be left to seek the
assets that were theirs. Armenians are a very determined people. We do
not give up. Now, it's up to Armenian descendants to make sure their
ancestors are not forgotten."
Kabateck, Geragos and Yeghiayan were in Paris earlier this
week to announce the claim filing process for a $17.5 million settlement
in a class action lawsuit brought against French insurance giant AXA for
life insurance that went unpaid to heirs of those killed during the 1915
Armenian Genocide. (Kyurkjian, et. al. v. AXA, Case No: CV 02-01750 and
Ouzounian, et. al., v. AXA, Case No: CV 05-02596, U.S. District Court,
Central District of California). The suit is the second of its kind.
Attorneys Kabateck, Geragos and Yeghiayan are internationally
representing Armenian descendants in similar cases. In Martin Marootian,
et al. v. New York Life Insurance Company), they reached a settlement
with New York Life in which the insurance company agreed to pay $20
million to descendants of Armenian policyholders killed during the
genocide.
"These settlements have brought us one step closer to
universal Genocide recognition by forcing everyone who ignorantly denies
the Armenian Genocide, especially those Turkish citizens who have been
blinded by years of state sponsored propaganda, to come to grips with
reality and see that had there not been a genocide, these multinational
corporations would not have paid millions in settlement," states
Yeghiayan principle of Glendale, California-based Yeghiayan &
Associates.
Armenians can obtain a list of individuals who had purchased insurance
from AXA in the Ottoman Empire between 1880 and 1930 by going to
www.armenianinsurancesettlement.com. The instructions are in English and
Armenian. A policy claim form must be filled out and submitted to a
Settlement Fund Board in order to have a claim considered for payment.
The deadline for submission is October 1, 2007.
###
Brian Kabateck Mark
Geragos
Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP Geragos &
Geragos
213-217-5000 213
625-3900
[email protected]
[email protected]
Cell: 310-780-2309
Diane Zakian Rumbaugh Vartkes
Yeghiayan
Rumbaugh Public Relations Yeghiayan
Law Firm
805-493-2877
818-242-7400
[email protected]
[email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 11,
2007
Armenian-American Attorneys Meet With German Officials/
Deutsche & Dresdner Bank, Defendants in Armenian Genocide-Related Case,
Refuse to Meet
BERLIN, GERMANY--Three Armenian-American attorneys, Brian S.
Kabateck, Mark J. Geragos and Vartkes Yeghiayan, are in Berlin, Germany
seeking to meet with officials from Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank over
lawsuits stemming from the 1915 Armenian Genocide in what is now Turkey.
So far, the banks refuse to meet. The attorneys filed a lawsuit last
year against Deutsche and Dresdner Banks charging the two banks held
Armenian families' money and assets that had been deposited in their
banks before 1915 and retained assets looted by the Turkish government.
(Varoujan Deirmenjian, et. al. v. Deutsche Bank, A.G., Dresdner Bank,
A.G., et. al., January 13, 2006, Los Angeles Superior Court).
The attorneys met with German officials while in Berlin
yesterday. The attorneys believe the meeting was productive. The content
of the meeting is confidential. At a news conference after the meeting,
Kabateck, Geragos and Yeghiayan discussed the present status of the suit
against Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank and asked that the banks be good
corporate citizens and sit down to discuss resolution of the claims
against them.
"The German government has been very admirable in
acknowledging the Armenian Genocide," says Kabateck, partner with the
Los Angeles, California-based Kabateck Brown Kellner. "Turkey says it
didn't happen. It is shameful that Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank are
acting more in line with Turkey and do not feel obligated to return
assets rightfully belonging to Armenians. It just adds to the disregard
and degradation of a group of people that have suffered horribly."
Deutsche Bank's attorneys in the United States state that
the banks will not meet with the plaintiff's attorneys until pending
motions seeking its attorneys' disqualification for tampering with
plaintiff's expert consultant are withdrawn. "Deutsche Bank's
precondition to meet with us appears to be a tacit recognition of the
strength of our expert tampering charges," says Mark Geragos, partner
with Geragos & Geragos. "At this point, just about all the Armenians
who lived through the genocide have passed away. The German banks
probably think if they wait long enough, no one will be left to seek the
assets that were theirs. Armenians are a very determined people. We do
not give up. Now, it's up to Armenian descendants to make sure their
ancestors are not forgotten."
Kabateck, Geragos and Yeghiayan were in Paris earlier this
week to announce the claim filing process for a $17.5 million settlement
in a class action lawsuit brought against French insurance giant AXA for
life insurance that went unpaid to heirs of those killed during the 1915
Armenian Genocide. (Kyurkjian, et. al. v. AXA, Case No: CV 02-01750 and
Ouzounian, et. al., v. AXA, Case No: CV 05-02596, U.S. District Court,
Central District of California). The suit is the second of its kind.
Attorneys Kabateck, Geragos and Yeghiayan are internationally
representing Armenian descendants in similar cases. In Martin Marootian,
et al. v. New York Life Insurance Company), they reached a settlement
with New York Life in which the insurance company agreed to pay $20
million to descendants of Armenian policyholders killed during the
genocide.
"These settlements have brought us one step closer to
universal Genocide recognition by forcing everyone who ignorantly denies
the Armenian Genocide, especially those Turkish citizens who have been
blinded by years of state sponsored propaganda, to come to grips with
reality and see that had there not been a genocide, these multinational
corporations would not have paid millions in settlement," states
Yeghiayan principle of Glendale, California-based Yeghiayan &
Associates.
Armenians can obtain a list of individuals who had purchased insurance
from AXA in the Ottoman Empire between 1880 and 1930 by going to
www.armenianinsurancesettlement.com. The instructions are in English and
Armenian. A policy claim form must be filled out and submitted to a
Settlement Fund Board in order to have a claim considered for payment.
The deadline for submission is October 1, 2007.
###