LA lawyer battles giants for Armenian 'genocide' heirs

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2008

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Lawyer Vartkes Yeghiayan has been waging a long and hard battle against US and French giants for million-dollar claims from Armenians dating back to the waning days of the Ottoman Empire.

Thousands of unpaid insurance policy claims have flowed in from the Armenian diaspora across the globe to Yeghiayan's small legal firm in Glendale, a Los Angeles suburb with the largest concentration of Armenians in the US.

In his two-decade crusade, Yeghiayan and a small team of lawyers have won 37.5 million dollars for clients after settling two cases with New York Life in 2004 and later in 2005 with French insurers AXA in California courts.

But the silver-haired, 71-year-old lawyer is pragmatic about his quest to seek a financial settlement for the...