ANCA, ANCA-WR Welcome the Court’s Dismissal of Baseless $500 Million Lawsuit
The U.S. District Court of the Southern District of California on April 14 dismissed a lawsuit filed by Azerbaijani-American attorney Aynur Baghirzade — who came to prominence earlier this year for publicly calling Armenia a “carcinoma” that needed to be “deleted” —against the Armenian National Committee of America, the ANCA-WR and others, seeking damages of $500 million.
In her 58-page filing last June, she claimed that the plaintiffs misrepresented views and damaged her professional reputation, after she wrote incendiary remarks against Armenia and Armenians. The ANCA flagged her most egregious posts for the California State Bar Association, requesting a review of her standing as a licensed lawyer.
The court last week struck Baghirzade’s Third Amended Complaint, dismissing this action, denying remaining motions as moot, and declaring the case closed.
The Third Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from forcing citizens to house soldiers in their homes, either in peacetime or wartime, unless there is a specific legal procedure in place for doing so.
“The Armenian National Committee of America and the Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region welcome the April 14, 2025, decision by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Aynur Baghirzade, a California attorney, who leveled unfounded accusations against the ANCA, ANCA-WR and thirty other defendants,” a statement from the ANCA and ANCA-WR said on Friday.
“The ANCA shares our community’s gratitude to Dick A. Semerdjian and his colleagues at Schwartz Semerdjian Cauley Schena & Bush LLP for their exemplary representation of the the ANCA, ANCA-WR and other individuals and organization named in Baghirzade’s filings. Mr. Semerjian represents the finest of our Armenian and American traditions, stepping up in a consistently principled and professional manner to defend our community against false and defamatory allegations,” the statement added.
The full listing of defendants is as follows: Alphabet Inc., Aram Hamparian, Armen Sahakyan, Armenian National Committee of America, Armenian National Committee of American Western Region, Attorney Search Network, Coco Su, Estrella Sanchez, Google, Inc., Jake Baloian, Jeremy Stoppelman, Legal Match, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Los Angeles County Bar Association Smartlaw Lawyer Referral Services, Martindale-Nolo, Orange County Bar Association, Orange County Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service & Information Service, Seth Chavez, Teresa Vuki, Trudy Levindofske and Yelp, Inc, according to The Armenian Weekly, which reported on the lawsuit in June.
