$20 MILLION SETTLEMENT FOR ARMENIAN GENOCIDE.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

Heirs of relatives killed in the Armenian Genocide nearly a century ago reached a $20 million settlement Friday for old life-insurance claims, a landmark decision hailed as a step in formally recognizing the atrocity.

The lead plaintiff in the class-action suit is Martin Marootian, an 88-year-old La Canada Flintridge resident, whose family spent years fighting to collect unpaid benefits on his uncle, who they said was a victim of the genocide in the summer of 1915.

``We finally got to the end of the line,'' Marootian said. ``I'm glad this thing is finally over. It's been a long trip for me.''

Attorneys claimed a historic victory, saying the settlement acknowledges the genocide - when 1.5 million Armenians in the Turkish Ottoman Empire were killed. Turkey denies a genocide occurred, and maintains that Armenians were killed in civil unrest during the collapse of the empire.

Attorney Brian S. Kabateck, joined by co-counsel Mark Geragos outside U.S. District Court, said the ``case isn't about money. The case is about bringing attention about the genocide.''

``We're delighted not just because we're two sons, grandsons, of the Armenian Genocide, but because this is a first significant step,'' said Geragos, who like Kabateck is of Armenian descent.

The class of plaintiffs includes 2,300 Armenians who had policies with New York Life Insurance Co., but whose families failed to collect benefits after their loved ones died.

New York Life sold about 8,000 policies in the Ottoman Empire beginning in the 1880s, with less than half of those bought by Armenians. It stopped selling insurance there in 1915.

The company said it located about one-third of the policyholders' descendants to pay benefits. The rest of the policies languished because the remaining heirs could not be found, the firm said.

Attorneys will now begin publicizing the settlement across the United States and other countries, and beneficiaries will have six months to file notice. For information, go to www.armenianinsurancesettlement.com.

The suit never accused New York Life as being complicitous in the genocide, and only sought to win benefits for those who never received them.

An attorney for New York Life said the company was satisfied with the settlement and hoped to reach those owed benefits.

``It's fair, adequate and reasonable,'' said New York Life's attorney, John Carroll Holmes. ``New York Life behaved very nobly in the face of the atrocities and paid all the claims that came forward.''

U.S. District Court Christina A. Snyder granted preliminary approval to the settlement in February before signing off the final agreement Friday.

Filed in 1999, the class-action case developed as Marootian, who was born in New York in 1915, and his family had struggled to get benefits on his uncle.

Under the settlement, $11 million will go toward families; $3 million to nine Armenian charities, primarily on the East Coast and in Southern California; $4 million in legal fees; and $2 million for administrative costs.

Any money not awarded to the families, attorneys or for administrative costs will go to the charities.

As lead plaintiff, Marootian was awarded $250,000, which the judge said was fair after ``having been at this much of his adult life.''

The attorneys pressed for the large award for Marootian because of the time and effort he put into the case, as well as the criticism he endured by some in the Armenian community who mistakenly thought the $20 million settlement was for reparations for the genocide - rather than outstanding insurance claims - and complained that the sum was too small, Kabateck said.

Among the nine charities are the Glendale-based Armenian Educational Foundation and Burbank-based Armenian Church of North America Western Diocese.

Lisa Mascaro, [phone]

lisa.mascaro(at)dailynews.com