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JUDGE RULES CLASS ACTION BY ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DESCENDANTS
CAN MOVE FORWARD AGAINST GERMAN BANKS FOR RECOVERY OF PROPERTY..
LOS ANGELES, CALIF.--A federal judge ruled yesterday that a class action case against two German banks brought by descendants of victims of the Armenian Genocide can move forward. The plaintiffs are seeking recovery of money and property from Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank that they say was wrongfully withheld from their families following the Armenian Genocide (Varoujan Deirmenjian, et. al. v. Deutsche Bank, A.G., Dresdner Bank, A.G., et. al., Case No. CV 06-00774, U.S. District Court, Central District of California). The defendants had filed a motion to dismiss
The lawsuit charges that the banks have held money and assets deposited by Armenians prior to the 1915 Armenian Genocide as well as assets looted by the Ottoman Turkish government and given to the banks for safekeeping. The lawsuit states that the banks profited from the atrocities committed against the Armenian people in the Ottoman Turkish Empire by concealing and preventing the recovery of assets rightfully belonging to Armenian families.
The defendants had argued that the statute of limitations for filing claims against them had run out. United States District Judge Margaret M. Morrow disagreed, saying the banks had failed to establish that the majority of the claims were time-barred. The banks had also argued that the dispute should be resolved in Germany rather than the U.S. Again, the judge disagreed.
"We are very pleased with the judge's decision," says Brian Kabateck, partner with the Los Angeles law firm of Kabateck Brown Kellner. "A million and a half Armenians not only lost their lives, but their families lost their worldly possessions during the genocide. Imagine the frustration to now learn that German banks were complicit in the looting."
Mark Geragos, of the prominent Los Angeles Law firm of Geragos & Geragos was quoted as saying“ we are obviously gratified by today’s ruling yet disappointed and frankly horrified that Deutsche Bank continues to stonewall any and all efforts to return the money that rightfully belongs to the Armenians. After all, this is stolen property we are talking about. Over twenty million dollars in gold alone was stolen and these German corporations were accomplices to this plunder. Instead of legal gamesmanship these German corporations should do the right thing and immediately return this stolen property to its rightful owners.”
Kabateck, Geragos and Vartkes Yeghiayan, all of Armenian decent, represent the plaintiffs.
On August 31, the California State Legislature passed the "Armenian Genocide Bank and Looted Assets Recovery Act" (Senate Bills 1524). The act would extend the statute of limitations for claims to unpaid bank deposits from 1890 to 1923. The bill is expected to be signed by Governor Arnold Scwarzenegger shortly.
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