An important qualifier to the discussion about deaccessioning and the Detroit Institute of Arts is that although DIA is a subdivision of the bankruptcy debtor (Detroit), that debtor is not any old commercial entity. Rather, Detroit is a municipality, and municipal and state debtors are governed by slightly different rules than private parties.
Detroit Institute of Arts Deaccessioning: Municipal Bankruptcy, Existing and Proposed Changes to Michigan Law Affect Debate
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on August 5, 2013 at 6:20 AM
0 Comments Click here to read/write comments
Topics: Legislation, Donn Zaretsky, Deaccession, Chapter 9, 11 U.S.C. § 904, Public Trust, Attorney General of Michigan, Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, Bankruptcy, Collections, Bankruptcy Code, Association of Art Museum Directors, Bill Schuette, Detroit Emergency City Manager, Kevyn Orr, Museums, Detroit Bankruptcy, AAMD
Jenack Case Set for Oral Argument, Appeal Tests Obligation for Auction Houses in New York to Disclose Seller’s Name
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on July 22, 2013 at 4:56 AM
The New York Court of Appeals has set a hearing date on the appeal of the William J. Jenack action house of the Appellate Division’s ruling last year that an auctioneer must disclose the name of any owner who has consigned the work for sale, or a sale against a successful bidder cannot be enforced consistent with New York General Obligations law § 5-701 (the New York Statute of Frauds). The oral argument will be on November 13, 2013. The high court of New York elected to accept the appeal earlier this year, following coverage in the New York Times and elsewhere (in which the Art Law Report is quoted).
0 Comments Click here to read/write comments
Topics: Legislation, consignment, New York General Obligations Law § 5-701, Auctions, New York Court of Appeals, Ivan Petrovich Khlebnikov, Statute of Frauds, auction house, William J. Jenack, Hicks v. Wigmore
Bi-Partisan Sponsors for Senate Bill 2212 Sign On
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on December 13, 2012 at 3:53 AM
Bi-partisan momentum appears to be gathering for Senate Bill 2212, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act (a bill that would clarify an exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act in respect to the loan of cultural artifacts). After Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) signed on as a co-sponsor on November 27, 2012, others have followed. In addition to its original co-sponsors Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT), the bill has since gained the co-sponsorship of John Cornyn (R-TX) on December 3, 2012; Thomas Coburn (R-OK) on December 11, 2012; and Chris Coons (D-DE) on December 12, 2012.
0 Comments Click here to read/write comments
Topics: Legislation, Dianne Feinstein, Thomas Coburn, Chris Coons, Restitution, Orrin Hatch, Senate Bill 2212, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, S.B. 2212, Charles Schumer, John Cornyn, Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity
Charles Schumer’s Co-Sponsorship of Senate Bill 2212 Could Signal Movement
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on November 29, 2012 at 3:59 AM
The federal register this week noted the addition on November 27, 2012 of Charles Schumer, New York’s senior Senator, as a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 2212, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act, the proposed amendment to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act that would exempt from the FSIA the loan of certain cultural objects as a basis to invoke U.S. federal court jurisdiction. The bill has already been passed by the House of Representatives. After passage in march and referral to the Senate Judiciary Committee (on which it should be noted, Schumer sits), their has been no news of the bill’s progress.
0 Comments Click here to read/write comments
Topics: Legislation, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immun, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, FSIA, Senate Bill 2212, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Charles Schumer, Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity, Art Law Report
5th Annual Art Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice Institute November 16, 2012
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on November 13, 2012 at 11:48 AM
I'll be winging my way to Houston, but otherwise I would be at the New York County Lawyers' Association's 5th Annual Art Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice Institute event on Friday, November 16, 2012. Anyone interested should not miss it.
0 Comments Click here to read/write comments
Topics: Legislation, Renee Vara, Hon. Delissa Ridgway, William Pearlstein, Alexandra Darraby, Cultural Heritage Partners, Hon. Barbara Jaffe, Michael McCullough, Ann Lydecker, Hon. Nicholas Garaufis, Hon. Sherry Klein Heitler, John Cahill, Hon. Kristin Booth Glen, Cook Maran & Associates, Mitchell Silberg & Knupp LLP, Golenbock Eiseman Assor Bell & Peskoe LLP, Chris Robinson, Ralph Lerner, Christine Lepera, Hon. Helen Freedman, Helen Allen, Vara Art, Hon Stephen G. Crane, Kirsten Squires, Marion Werkheiser, L. Eden Burgess, Restitution, Events, Grunfeld Desiderio Lebowitz Silverman Klestadt LLP, Herrick Feinstein LLP, The Art Law Firm, PLLC, Raymond J. Dowd, Dunnington Bartholow & Miller LLP, Darlene Fairman, Cirkers Fine Art Storage & Logistics, Maura Kehoe Collins Artiphile, Art Artifact Architecture & Museum Law, Sharon Levin, James McAndrew, Judith Bresler
Auction Consignors’ Names Must be Disclosed in New York: an Art Twist on a Very Old Law
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on October 26, 2012 at 11:46 AM
It is a busy fall for consignment law in New York. News has been making the rounds this month about a decision by the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, New York’s intermediate appeals court. The Appellate Division ruled that an auctioneer must disclose the name of any owner who has consigned the work for sale, or a sale against a successful bidder cannot be enforced. The auction world is in an uproar, but the result actually derives from a version of a very old law called the Statute of Frauds about what has to be in writing for a contract to be enforceable, for reasons that have nothing to do with art or auctions.
0 Comments Click here to read/write comments
Topics: Legislation, consignment, New York General Obligations Law § 5-701, Ivan Petrovich Khlebnikov, Collections, Statute of Frauds, Albert Rabizadeh, William J. Jenack, auction
Change to New York Art Consignment Statute Adds Protections, Risks
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on September 27, 2012 at 9:46 AM
New York has passed an amendment to its Arts & Cultural Affairs law, N.Y. Arts & Cult. Aff. Law §12.01(2012), that is important for artist, galleries, and dealers alike. It affects the consignment relationship and creates critical new duties—and liabilities, for the dealer on consignment. Most importantly, it makes using any form of agreement drafted under the old law risky, particularly for the gallery or consignee. Signed by Governor Cuomo this week, the law takes effect November 6, 2012.
0 Comments Click here to read/write comments
Topics: Legislation, consignment, attorneys' fees, Collections, breach of fiduciary duty, Trusts, Salander O'Reilly
The Other Von Saher Shoe Drops: Cassirer v. Kingdom of Spain Dismissed Under Foreign Affairs Preemption
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on June 4, 2012 at 12:50 PM
An emerging new defense to wartime art restitution claims has claimed another case. Although still confined to one district in California, the trend of dismissing such claims as better suited to resolution through the foreign affairs operations of the federal government simply cannot be ignored; wartime claims already struggling to overcome statutes of limitations could be in real trouble. The procedural history is complex, but the effect could be sweeping.
0 Comments Click here to read/write comments
Topics: Legislation, Nazi Germany, Lilly Cassirer, Rue Saint-Honoré après-midi effet de pluie, California Code of Civil Procedure Section 338, conflict preemption, FSIA, Preemption, Restitution, field preemption, Goudstikker, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum, Cassirer v. Kingdom of Spain, California Code of Civil Procedure 354.3
Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Amendment Coverage Continues to Miss the Mark: NPR Report Claims Bill Could "Thwart Return of Holocaust Art"
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on May 31, 2012 at 10:29 AM
Is it time to invoke the Corollary to Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies (i.e., as a discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler increases, and once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically the argument ) concerning Senate Bill 2212, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act?
0 Comments Click here to read/write comments
Topics: Legislation, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Association of Art Museum Directors, Restitution, Senate Bill 2212, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Immunity from Seizure Act, Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity, National Public Radio
Despite Criticism of S.B. 2212’s Proposed Amendment to the FSIA, New Law Would Not Enable Stolen Art
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on May 24, 2012 at 6:04 AM
Doreen Carvajal of the New York Times this week addressed Senate Bill 2212, (the “Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act”) this week, a bill approved in March by the House of Representatives.
0 Comments Click here to read/write comments
Topics: Legislation, Russian art embargo, Nazi stolen art, Russia, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, 22 U.S.C. § 2459, Christ Carrying the Cross Dragged by a Rogue, Collections, FSIA, Restitution, World War II, IFSA, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Portrait of Wally, Immunity from Seizure Act, New York Times, Chabad, Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity
