The House of Representatives approved the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act on March 19, 2012, to remove the display of a work of art in the United States as basis to sue a foreign sovereign here. The law touches on important distinctions between immunity from suit—when a party cannot be sued at all—from immunity from seizure—when a particular object or asset cannot be seized.
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Topics: Legislation, Immunity from Seizure, FSIA, Restitution, Senate Bill 2212, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, House of Representatives, Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity, State Department
Catherine Hickley of Bloomberg reports today from Berlin about a court-ordered return of more than 4,000 once owned by Hans Sachs, a Jewish dentist chased out of Nazi Germany. The Bundesgerichtshof (BGH) is Germany’s highest civil court, and handed down the decision.
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Topics: Berlin, Lucian Bernhard, Catherine Hickley, Hans Sachs, Bloomberg, Sachsenhausen, Bundesgerichtshof, Ludwig Hohlwein, Deutches Historisches Museum, Collections, Restitution, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, World War II, BGH, Kristallnacht
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
Capping today’s restitution news, word that a painting stolen in connection with World War II is being returned to Germany. The 15th-century “Flagellation of Christ” by an unknown artist of the Cologne School was taken from the Jagdschloss Grunewald outside Berlin by soldiers in the aftermath of the war. Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana ultimately acquired the painting. The agreement to return the work actually dates to 2004.
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Topics: Restitution, World War II
The regional government of Berlin has decided to return two paintings by German Expressionist Karl Schmidt-Rotluff to the heirs of the paintings’ one-time owner (article in German).
As reported by Catherine Hickley of Bloomberg in Berlin, the paintings, a 1920 self-portrait and a 1910 landscape entitled “Farm in Dangast” once belonged to Robert Graetz, a businessman from Berlin who was deported to Poland in 1942. After a claim by Graetz’s grandson Roberto (Graetz), a government panel headed by Jutta Limbach (a former constitutional judge) concluded that the loss was almost certainly the product of persecution and should be returned. Berlin Culture Secretary Andre Schmitz has now said that the government will follow the panel’s recommendation.
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Topics: Berlin, Catherine Hickley, Karl Schmidt-Rotluff, Robert Graetz, Restitution, Farm in Dangast, World War II, degenerate art, Jutta Limbach, Washington Principles
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
