After months of inactivity and intimations of a possible settlement, the Chabad plaintiffs seeking the return of the Schneerson library have had enough, and have renewed their request to the District Court to sanction the defendants who have not complied with prior orders to return the library.
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Topics: Russian art embargo, sanctions, Collections, FSIA, Restitution, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Chabad
For the second time since October, the Chabad Lubavitch plaintiffs seeking the return of the movement’s library from Russia have asked the D.C. District Court to hold off on issuing any of the sanctions those plaintiffs requested earlier. More specifically this time, the plaintiffs reference ongoing discussions and ask for more time to try to bring those to fruition.
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Topics: Russia, Restitution, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Chabad
After recent expansions of the scope of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has narrowed that statute’s route of access to the courthouse again. The 2nd Circuit affirmed on November 30, 2011 the District Court’s March 11, 2011 dismissal of Andrew Orkin’s claims to recover a Vincent Van Gogh drawing against the Swiss Confederation, the Oskar Reinhart Foundation, and the Oskar Reinhart Collection.
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Topics: Von Saher, Margarethe Mauthner, Germany, Cassirer, Vincent Van Gogh, FSIA, Restitution, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Washington Principles
As discussed earlier in the Art Law Report, the Herzog heirs’ case against several Hungarian national museums survived dismissal (apart from their claims to 11 paintings whose ownership was litigated in Hungary previously). The remaining question was how much of the case would be heard on appeal: only the narrow question of Hungary’s sovereign immunity, or other parts of the decision on the defendants’ motion to dismiss (asserting, in part, that the claims were too old, that the claims were barred as acts of state, and that the United States is not the proper forum).
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Topics: Hungary, Restitution, Statute of Limitations, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities
In a story that did not seem like it could get any more unusual, the long-running Chabad library dispute in Washington, DC that has resulted in a Russian fine art loan embargo for nearly a year took a maritime turn in San Francisco this weekend. At the last minute, a sailing ship named the Nadezhda that was headed to San Francisco on a goodwill tour stopped short of entering the port. It anchored just outside the Golden Gate and awaited a pilot to guide it in. When the pilot headed out, a message was received that the Russian ship would not be docking, and it headed for Mexico.
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Topics: Russia, Restitution, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Chabad
The Chabad Lubavitch plaintiffs who have been trying for more than six years to obtain the return of the library of Menachem Schneerson—a case which has resulted in an embargo of Russian art loans to the United States for nearly a year—took the unexpected step this week of asking the court to refrain from ruling on a pending motion to find the Russian defendants in contempt. The Russian defendants—who have not appeared or filed anything since refusing to participate further last year, resulting in the default judgment against them—had until October 18 to contest the contempt allegations related to their failure to obey the judgment against them (to return the library).
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Topics: Russia, Restitution, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Chabad
With the recent decision in the Baron Herzog case dismissing some claims but allowing the bulk of the case to go forward, the next step is determining what issues can be appealed now.
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Topics: Hungary, Holocaust, Restitution, Statute of Limitations, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities
The United States District Court has allowed significant parts of the claim brought by claimed heirs of Baron Mor Lipot Herzog to go forward. The decision is significant for several reasons. First, it is the most prominent restitution case currently at the trial level, and the case will now proceed into discovery of the facts. Second, the judge turned away a strong statute of limitations argument, which has been the strong trend in recent restitution cases. On the flip side, the judge found for the defendants on eleven paintings that were the subject of prior litigiation.
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Topics: Hungary, Holocaust, Restitution, Statute of Limitations, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities
In the latest development in one of this year’s farthest-reaching art law issues, the Metropolitian Museum of Art announced in August that it will no longer lend its works of art within the Russian Federation so long as the Russian embargo on U.S. loans persists. The Met had planned to loan works by French designer Paul Poiret to the exhibition “Paul Poiret – King of Fashion” at the Kremlin Museum.
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Topics: Russia, Restitution, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Chabad
