Kyurkjian v AXA
Descendants of Armenian Genocide of 1915 Victims Sue to Get Benefits from French Life Insurance Companies AXA and UAP
The parties have agreed on a $17 M settlement in a class action that had been filed against French insurance companies AXA and UAP (formerly known as L'Union Des Assurance De Paris) on behalf of descendants of victims massacred in the Armenian Genocide of 1915, who alleged that the company failed to pay life insurance policy proceeds to them.
From 1880 to 1915, many Armenians who lived in the Ottoman Empire (in much of what is now the country of Turkey) allegedly purchased life insurance policies from AXA and UAP. On April 24, 1915, the government of Turkey launched a systematic campaign to destroy ethnic Armenians through a process of massacre and deportation, which is now recognized as the Armenian Genocide. Between 1915 and 1922, between one-and-a-half and two million Armenians perished as a result. Among the victims were the owners of life insurance policies issued by AXA and UAP.
The action alleged that the companies never paid any life insurance benefits to any victims of the Armenian Genocide. Despite repeated claims, the insurers refused to pay the proceeds that are due under the policies. The plaintiffs in this action are asking the U.S. federal court for an order requiring Victoria Insurance to identify the insurance benefits that belong to the Armenians, to identify the rightful heirs, and to pay the benefits to them.
The other companies named in the suit are French companies AXA Financial, Inc., AXA RE Life Insurance Company, and AXA Reinsurance Company.
