Art Law Group co-chair and partner Bill Charron reviewed the recently published oral arguments from Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation. The case, currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, involves a French impressionist painting by Camille Pissarro that was taken from its Jewish owner Lilly Cassirer by Nazis in exchange for safe passage. The work is currently owned by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Spain and is now valued at $30 million.
Charron discussed the arguments and the Court's reaction with Jewish Insider and Courthouse News Service, which states:
"I think that the context in which this case arose is obviously very compelling but to the extent people were looking to see if the justices were going to delve into the background and the fact of Nazi theft, and there was none of that," William Charron, partner and co-chair of Pryor Cashman's Art Law group, said in a phone call. "They were very in the weeds and they were very focused on a particular question that is important far beyond the context in which this case arose."
The international nature of the case calls jurisdiction into question. Jewish Insider quotes Charron:
Charron said that one of the museum's "more compelling points" was that applying state choice-of-law rules in cases like this would "present an international relations problem" because foreign states could find themselves subject to different choice-of-law rules and outcomes in each of the 50 states.
"Justice Roberts's response to that was, 'Welcome to the United States,'" Charron continued. "He seemed fairly dismissive of that point."
Ultimately, Charron said, if the Court does decide that California state choice-of-law rules should be applied, the case could be remanded to the Ninth Circuit to consider whether a California district court was correct in ruling that Spanish law would still apply in the case.
"I don't think the Supreme Court is likely to answer that question on its own in the first instance," he explained.
Read both articles in full in the resource links below.
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