Cassirer’s Case Continues
Regular TLB readers will be familiar with David Cassirer’s long-running suit to recover a painting by Camille Pissarro, which the Nazis stole from his great-grandmother, from a museum owned by the government of Spain. The case turns on choice of law. Under Spanish law, an owner acquires good title through possession for a period of…
Continue ReadingCassirer Plaintiffs Ask Supreme Court to GVR
On Friday, the plaintiffs in Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation filed a cert petition asking the Supreme Court to grant, vacate, and remand (GVR) the Ninth Circuit’s decision in light of new California legislation mandating the application of California law to the merits of the case. It would be standard practice for the Court to…
Continue ReadingGovernor Newsom Signs Holocaust Art Bill
Yesterday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2867 into law. The bill provides that California law applies in suits brought by a California resident involving the theft of art or other personal property during the Holocaust or other political persecutions. Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel introduced AB 2867 in response to the Ninth Circuit’s decision earlier this…
Continue ReadingA Legislative Fix for the Cassirer Case?
Regular TLB readers may be familiar with the Cassirer case seeking to recover a painting by Camille Pissarro that was stolen by the Nazis and is now in the possession of a Spanish museum. The U.S. Supreme Court held in Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation (2022) that federal courts must apply state choice-of-law rules to…
Continue ReadingNinth Circuit Decides Cassirer in Favor of Spain
In 2005, Claude Cassirer sued a state-owned museum in Spain to recover a painting by Camille Pissarro that the Nazis stole from his grandmother. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court on a choice-of-law question, and the Court held that state, rather than federal, choice-of-law rules should determine the applicable law in cases under…
Continue ReadingCassirer on Remand: Considering the Laws of Other Interested States
Claude Cassirer brought suit in federal court in California eighteen years ago against the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum of Madrid, Spain, to recover a painting by Camille Pissarro that was stolen from his grandmother by the Nazis during World War II. After a reversal and remand from the U.S. Supreme Court last summer, the case is…
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