I will be in Maastricht, the Netherlands, on March 24-25, 2013 at the Art and Heritage Law Conference to present my forthcoming paper to be published in the Special Issue of Transnational Dispute Management, “Art and Heritage Disputes.” The paper (and my presentation) will re-assess the effectiveness of American litigation in the last 15 years seeking restitution of art stolen during World War II.
The Art Law Report to Present Paper in Maastricht, the Netherlands
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on December 13, 2012 at 4:09 AM
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Topics: Maastricht, Restitution, Events, the Netherlands, World War II, Transnational Dispute Management, Art and Heritage Disputes
Combining the Nazi Theft Exception in Senate Bill 2212 with Immunity from Seizure: Good Policy or Inconsistent Law?
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on November 15, 2012 at 6:46 AM
Opposition to Senate Bill 2212, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act (a bill the Art Law Report favors in its frequent commentaries) has been renewed recently. Senate Bill 2212 (already passed by the House of Representatives) would remove the mere display of a work of art in the United States as a satisfactory basis to satisfy the commercial activity requirement of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act necessary to sue a foreign sovereign here in the United States.
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Topics: Germany, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Plundered Art, 22 U.S.C. § 2459, Restitution, Senate Bill 2212, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Nikki Georgopulos, Altmann v. Republic of Austria, Immunity from Seizure Act, Nazi theft, Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity, Malevich v. City of Amsterdam, Art Law Report
Hans Sachs Collection Epilogue: Posters to Go on Sale in New York at Guernsey’s
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on November 5, 2012 at 4:02 AM
The Hans Sachs collection that the Bundesgerichtshof in Karlsruhe ordered in March be returned to the Sachs heirs will be put up for auction in New York. The collection had more than 12,000 posters by artist that included Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Ludwig Hohlwein, Lucian Bernhard and Jules Cheret. The Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin, a museum of German history, held for several decades parts of a poster collection was seized from Sachs in 1938. After his arrest and incarceration, Sachs fled the country with his family.
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Topics: Berlin, Lucian Bernhard, Guernsey’s Auctioneers & Brokers, Catherine Hickley, Hans Sachs, Bloomberg, Bundesgerichtshof, Ludwig Hohlwein, Restitution, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Karlsruhe, World War II, Arlan Ettinger, Deutsches Historisches Museum, New York
Restitution Case Against Czech Republic and Museums Dismissed
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on November 2, 2012 at 10:37 AM
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida has dismissed—for a second time—a lawsuit filed there by former attorney Edward Fagan seeking the restitution of various works of art in the National Gallery in Prague and the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague. A novel strategy of bringing the case not by the alleged heirs, but rather by a former lawyer in cooperation with those alleged heirs, was rejected by the court on its own initiative.
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Topics: Czechoslovakia, Restitution, World War II, Czech Republic
Second Circuit Rules Schiele Drawing Not Stolen by Nazis
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on October 24, 2012 at 1:15 PM
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the judgment against David Bakalar concerning ownership of the drawing Seated Woman with Bent Left Leg (Torso). It is a notable decision first and foremost because it affirms the District Court ruling on the merits of whether the drawing was stolen by the Nazis from the Austrian-Jewish collector Fritz Grünbaum—finding that it was not stolen. Such a ruling is a rarity among wartime restitution cases, the overwhelming majority of which continue to founder on statutes of limitations and jurisdictional defenses. Ironically, even though the court ruled that the work was not stolen and that the current owner could not prove good title, the current owner still prevailed. The details are the key to understanding this case, best described in the District Court decision that the Appeals Court affirmed.
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Topics: cultural property, laches, Second Circuit, Galerie St. Etienne, Seated Woman wiht Bent Left Leg (Torso), Galerie Gutekunst, Nazis, Fritz Grünbaum, Restitution, Egon Schiele, World War II, Mathilde Lukacs, David Bakalar, Franz Kieslinger
"Restitution and Repatriation, the Return of Cultural Objects" at DePaul University Next Month
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on September 13, 2012 at 6:25 AM
Next month's symposium at DePaul University College of Law Center for Art, Museum & Cultural Heritage Law entitled "Restitution and Repatriation, the Return of Cultural Objects" looks terrific. The keynote speaker will be Lynn Nicholas of The Rape of Europa fame, and other topics include provenance research, museum acquisitions, and the moral and ethical quandaries posed by restitution and repatriation claims. The speaker lineup includes museum professionals and attorneys. Hope to see you there.
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Topics: cultural property, Lynn Nicholas, Restitution, World War II, Antiquities
U.S. Asks Court Not to Sanction Russian Defendants in Chabad Library Case—What Now?
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on September 5, 2012 at 1:14 PM
Casting further doubt on the practical possibility of using the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) to recover cultural artifacts, the U.S. Government has at long last weighed in on the Chabad plaintiffs’ request for contempt sanctions against the Russian defendants, defendants who have defied for more than two years a judgment to return the library of the late Menachem Schneerson. Rightly or wrongly, this is another example of the waning utility of the FSIA to seek restitution of works held abroad, and does not bode well for the ongoing embargo by Russian museums against cultural artifact loans to the United States.
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Topics: Russian art embargo, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, FSIA, Restitution, World War II, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Chabad, Art Law Report
Best Case for Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act (S.B. 2212) May Have been Made by its Sponsors
Posted by
Nicholas O'Donnell on June 5, 2012 at 5:23 AM
Perhaps lost in the coverage about Senate Bill 2212 (the Art Law Report no less than anyone else) to amend the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to preclude claims against defendants whose “commercial activity” is limited to the loan of artwork whose ownership is in dispute, is the case made by the sponsors of the bill themselves, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D, CA) and Orrin Hatch (R, UT).
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Topics: Nazi stolen art, Malewicz v. City of Amsterdam, Dianne Feinstein, Immunity from Seizure, 28 U.S.C. 1605(a)(3), FSIA, Restitution, Orrin Hatch, Senate Bill 2212, World War II, IFSA, Foreign Sovereign Immunities, Immunity from Seizure Act, Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity
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.
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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?
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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
