The last remaining claimants for the 1879 painting by Pierre Auguste Renoir, Paysage bords de Seine that surfaced in the possession of a woman who claimed to have found it at a flea market, have filed summary judgment papers seeking final disposition of the case without need of a trial. The Baltimore Museum of Art has made its case that the painting was stolen from the museum in 1951, while Martha Fuqua alleges that she purchased it in good faith at a Virginia flea market in 2009 before attempting to sell it at the Potomack Company. The U.S. government seized the painting from the auction house and filed an interpleader action to determine the true owner; the other principle claimant (Fireman’s Fund Insurance) dropped out of the case last fall without explanation, apparently pursuant to an assignment. Heirs of the original donor to the BMA never responded or made claim to the painting. The case will now turn at summary judgment on the hearsay rule, a topic that have bedeviled generations of law students and lawyers.
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Topics:
hearsay,
authentication,
Pierre-Auguste Renoir,
Potomack Company,
flea market Renoir,
ancient documents,
Gurlitt,
Martha Fuqua,
Baltimore Museum of Art,
Litigation,
business records exception,
summary judgment,
Museums,
Paysage Bords de Seine,
FRCP 56
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Topics:
Chapter 9,
11 U.S.C. § 904,
Judge Rhodes,
Christie's,
valuation,
Appraisal,
Detroit,
Detroit Institute of Arts,
Bankruptcy,
Detroit Emergency Manager,
Kevyn Orr,
Detroit Free Press,
eligibility,
Detroit Bankruptcy
After Judge Rhodes of the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan ruled on December 3, 2013 that the city of Detroit is eligible for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy protection, the city immediately divulged that the report commissioned by the city from Christie’s to appraise the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) collection was nearly finished. On the day of the eligibility ruling, Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr and Christie’s announced some tentative conclusions from the report, namely, that the 2,781 works appraised (roughly 5% of the total collection) had a value of approximately $452 million to $866 million. This was considerably lower than many had speculated.
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Topics:
Old Master,
Mark Stryker,
Chapter 9,
Scheme for Decoration of Sistine Chapel Ceiling,
11 U.S.C. § 904,
Impressionism,
Amedeo Modigliani,
Michelangelo,
Judge Rhodes,
Christie's,
valuation,
Appraisal,
Modernist Art,
Detroit,
Eugene Driker,
Detroit Institute of Arts,
Bankruptcy,
Gerald Rosen,
Detroit Emergency Manager,
Kevyn Orr,
Detroit Free Press,
eligibility,
Detroit Bankruptcy
Since the Court of Appeals’ decision in William J. Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers, Inc. v. Albert Rabizadeh was released on Tuesday (a decision that the New York Times noted was “first reported by the Art Law Report blog”), reactions have started to come in to the decision. Somewhat surprisingly, they have thus far been relatively few in number. On the whole, few seem exercised about the decision, and no one is gloating, probably because it restores the age-old status quo to which everyone had become accustomed.
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Topics:
Legislation,
consignment,
New York General Obligations Law § 5-701(a)(6),
Appellate Division,
Auctions,
New York Court of Appeals,
Ivan Petrovich Khlebnikov,
agency,
Inc. v. Albert Rabizadeh,
New York Supreme Court,
Hicks v. Whitmore,
Morris Cohon & Co. v. Russell,
disclosure,
Statute of Frauds,
anonymous seller,
identity,
auction,
William J. Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneer
The New York Court of Appeals reversed this morning the decision in Jenack v. Rabidazeh last fall by the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court that had held that an auctioneer must disclose the name of the actual owner who has consigned the work, to enforce that sale consistent with the state’s Statute of Frauds. The court concluded that “there exists sufficient documentation of a statutorily adequate writing” such that the Statute of Frauds was satisfied and the agreement is enforceable against Albert Rabizadeh, the winning auction bidder. The result is a sensible one both for stability in the market—the most important jurisdiction in the United States for that—as well as for anyone concerned about provenance and smuggling, as counterintuitive as that might initially appear. The decision is William J. Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers, Inc. v. Albert Rabizadeh (still unpublished).
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Topics:
Legislation,
consignment,
New York General Obligations Law § 5-701(a)(6),
Appellate Division,
Auctions,
New York Court of Appeals,
Ivan Petrovich Khlebnikov,
agency,
Inc. v. Albert Rabizadeh,
New York Supreme Court,
Hicks v. Whitmore,
Morris Cohon & Co. v. Russell,
disclosure,
Statute of Frauds,
anonymous seller,
identity,
auction,
William J. Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneer
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit restored last week claims by heirs of Lilly Cassirer against the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection for the return of the Camille Pissarro painting Rue St. Honoré, après-midi, êffet de pluie.
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Topics:
Nuremberg laws,
Schwabinger Kunstfund,
Cornelius Gurlitt,
Lilly Cassirer,
California Code of Civil Procedure § 338(c),
Dorothy Nelson,
Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection,
Julius Schoeps,
Rue St. Honoré après-midi êffet de pluie,
Claude Cassirer,
Von Saher v. Norton Simon,
de Csepel,
Jacques Goudstikker,
California Code of Civil Procedure § 354.3,
Gurlitt Collection,
Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act,
Hans Sachs,
Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasaden,
Madame Soler,
Bundesgerichtshof,
Hildebrand Gurlit,
Entartete Kunst,
Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza,
Hungarian National Gallery,
Nazis,
Munich,
Deutches Historisches Museum,
FSIA,
Preemption,
Gurlitt,
Harry Pregerson,
Restitution,
field preemption,
Marei Von Saher,
Herzog collection,
Bavaria,
Claudia Seger-Thomschitz,
Looted Art,
World War II,
Foreign Sovereign Immunities,
Pinakothek der Moderne,
degenerate art,
Altmann v. Republic of Austria,
578 F.3d 1016,
Freistaat Bayern,
beschlagnahmte Kunst,
Camille Pissarro,
Kim McLane Wardlaw,
Nürnberger Gesetze,
Raubkunst,
Museum of Fine Arts Boston,
Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection,
verschollene Kunst,
Kunstfund München
After GoldieBlox announced with great fanfare that it would withdraw its claim seeking a declaratory judgment that its use in a video of the Beastie Boys song “Girls” was a fair use under the Copyright Act, many assumed that was the end of it and that the only point for discussion was GoldieBlox’s motivation. As we pointed out at the time, however, that “offer” was not accompanied by a dismissal of the already filed lawsuit. Presumably, the Beastie Boys either declined, or failed to respond, because the band has now answered the Complaint and filed counterclaims, alleging copyright and trademark infringement.
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Topics:
Cariou v. Prince,
Copyright Act,
Campbell v. Acuff Rose Music Inc.,
Green Day,
Michael Diamond,
Adam Yauch,
“Girls”,
GoldieBlox,
Copyright,
Adam Horowitz,
Beastie Boys,
Fair Use
The coordination office in Magdeburg continues to post details about works of art seized from Cornelius Gurlitt in Schwabing, with a total of 327 works now available for viewing. There has been almost no discussion yet, however, of what process the government will employ to allow claimants to make their case. Those in the United States have options discussed further below.
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Topics:
veschollene Kunst,
Schwabinger Kunstfund Cornelius Gurlitt,
Strafprozessordnung,
Hildebrand Gurlitt,
EBS Dispute Resolution Center,
Munich Hoard,
IFKUR,
Verjährungsfrist,
Peter Bert,
Germany,
Matthias Weller,
prescriptive ownership,
Nazi-looted art,
Gurlitt Collection,
Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act,
Baden-Württemberg,
Entartete Kunst,
Nazis,
Ingeborg Berggreen-Merkel,
Munich,
Schwabing,
Magdeburg,
FSIA,
Dispute Resolution in Germany,
Bavaria,
Looted Art,
Foreign Sovereign Immunities,
deutches Recht,
degenerate art,
Altmann v. Republic of Austria,
www.lostart.de,
stop,
Raubkunst,
German Civil Code § 221,
Sec. 108 German Code of Criminal Procedure,
Kunstfund München,
Münchner Kunstfund
Just after the Bankruptcy Court held that Detroit is indeed eligible for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr reiterated that he expects the Detroit Institute of Arts to contribute financially to the city’s plan to emerge from insolvency. Said Orr, “We’d like to find a way to monetize the DIA.”
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Topics:
DIA collection sale,
Detroit,
Detroit Institute of Arts,
DIA,
Kevyn Orr,
Detroit Bankruptcy
