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Plaintiffs Score Early Victory against Turkish Banks in Armenian
Genocide Lawsuit
LOS ANGELES, CA. -- A U.S. federal district court in Los Angeles
handed Armenian plaintiffs an early victory in what will surely be a
difficult legal battle over reparations for land seized from Armenians
in Turkey during the Armenian Genocide (Alex Bakalian et. al vs.
Republic of Turkey, the Central Bank of Turkey, and T.C. Ziraat
Bankasi et. al, Case Number 2:10-CV-09596, December 15, 2010). Nearly
eight months after the complaint was filed, the court determined that
all three defendants, in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit in the United
States, had been lawfully served.
The lawsuit, filed by descendants of Armenian Genocide victims,
accuses the defendants of stealing and then profiting from land that
was illegally seized during the Armenian Genocide, when the Ottoman
Turks drove Armenians from the Adana region of southern Turkey. The
property at issue in the lawsuit is currently part of a strategic U.S.
airbase in southern Turkey.
Representing the plaintiffs are the Yeghiayan Law Firm in Glendale,
Schwarcz, Rimberg, Boyd & Rader, LLP in Los Angeles and Michael
Bazyler from Chapman University School of Law in Orange.
The plaintiffs have spent recent months attempting to serve all the
defendants, and then to have the court affirm their service efforts.
In the August 2 order, the court denied Central Bank of Turkey and
Ziraat Bank's motion to dismiss the complaint for insufficient service
of process. The court acknowledged that the plaintiffs presented
`credible evidence that their process servers made several attempts to
serve the bank defendants at addresses in `New York City... were
repeatedly denied access to the buildings and ...misdirected as to
Ziraat Bank's actual location.'
The court further found that the banks' security guards had `engaged
in behavior apparently designed to thwart service of process.' The
banks did not deny having actual knowledge of the pending lawsuit, and
thus the court ordered them to serve a responsive pleading to the
complaint by August 19.
The court additionally recognize that the Republic of Turkey had also
been recently served with the complaint through diplomatic channels-a
lengthy process involving high-level contacts between the U.S. Embassy
in Ankara, Turkey, and the Turkish Foreign Ministry-and must also file
papers responding to the complaint by August 19.
`From the outset, the banks have sought to make it as difficult as
possible to litigate this lawsuit,' says Vartkes Yeghiayan with the
Yeghiayan Law Firm. `Finally, after months of maneuvering and numerous
attempts to evade service, the U.S. federal court has required all
three defendants to respond to the Armenians' complaint.'
###
For a copy of the complaint and court order, contact Diane Zakian
Rumbaugh at [email protected], 805-493-2877.
Center for Armenian Remembrance
CenterAR News
From: Baghdasarian
Genocide Lawsuit
LOS ANGELES, CA. -- A U.S. federal district court in Los Angeles
handed Armenian plaintiffs an early victory in what will surely be a
difficult legal battle over reparations for land seized from Armenians
in Turkey during the Armenian Genocide (Alex Bakalian et. al vs.
Republic of Turkey, the Central Bank of Turkey, and T.C. Ziraat
Bankasi et. al, Case Number 2:10-CV-09596, December 15, 2010). Nearly
eight months after the complaint was filed, the court determined that
all three defendants, in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit in the United
States, had been lawfully served.
The lawsuit, filed by descendants of Armenian Genocide victims,
accuses the defendants of stealing and then profiting from land that
was illegally seized during the Armenian Genocide, when the Ottoman
Turks drove Armenians from the Adana region of southern Turkey. The
property at issue in the lawsuit is currently part of a strategic U.S.
airbase in southern Turkey.
Representing the plaintiffs are the Yeghiayan Law Firm in Glendale,
Schwarcz, Rimberg, Boyd & Rader, LLP in Los Angeles and Michael
Bazyler from Chapman University School of Law in Orange.
The plaintiffs have spent recent months attempting to serve all the
defendants, and then to have the court affirm their service efforts.
In the August 2 order, the court denied Central Bank of Turkey and
Ziraat Bank's motion to dismiss the complaint for insufficient service
of process. The court acknowledged that the plaintiffs presented
`credible evidence that their process servers made several attempts to
serve the bank defendants at addresses in `New York City... were
repeatedly denied access to the buildings and ...misdirected as to
Ziraat Bank's actual location.'
The court further found that the banks' security guards had `engaged
in behavior apparently designed to thwart service of process.' The
banks did not deny having actual knowledge of the pending lawsuit, and
thus the court ordered them to serve a responsive pleading to the
complaint by August 19.
The court additionally recognize that the Republic of Turkey had also
been recently served with the complaint through diplomatic channels-a
lengthy process involving high-level contacts between the U.S. Embassy
in Ankara, Turkey, and the Turkish Foreign Ministry-and must also file
papers responding to the complaint by August 19.
`From the outset, the banks have sought to make it as difficult as
possible to litigate this lawsuit,' says Vartkes Yeghiayan with the
Yeghiayan Law Firm. `Finally, after months of maneuvering and numerous
attempts to evade service, the U.S. federal court has required all
three defendants to respond to the Armenians' complaint.'
###
For a copy of the complaint and court order, contact Diane Zakian
Rumbaugh at [email protected], 805-493-2877.
Center for Armenian Remembrance
CenterAR News
From: Baghdasarian