Challenges mounting to US laws enacted to aid recovery of Nazi-looted art
The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation in Madrid and the Norton Simon Museum in California are pushing back against recent statutes related to Holocaust-era expropriation claims
Challenges are mounting against US laws designed to aid the recovery of Nazi-looted art. California and federal statutes, which alter the procedural rules for art claims related to Nazi looting, are facing legal challenges from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation (TBCF) in Madrid and the Norton Simon Museum (NSM) in Pasadena, California.
These museums previously won court cases in their favor, leading Congress and the California legislature to modify the laws. On October 19, federal district judge John Walter in Los Angeles stated he would issue a decision in the TBCF case without oral arguments, based solely on the submitted briefs. Meanwhile, the museum and plaintiffs have each requested summary judgment in the reconsideration of a claim for a stolen Camille Pissarro painting, deemed previously decided in TBCF's favor.
This claim was re-examined in 2025 following a US Supreme Court order after California amended its procedural laws in 2024 to benefit state residents suing museums for stolen art. The original court decision in TBCF's favor was overturned following the Supreme Court's vacating of a lower court ruling, stating that California's procedural laws and substantive law should apply in art theft cases, regardless of previous decisions.
The plaintiffs, David Cassirer and other heirs, argue the new California rule asserts California's property laws, preventing acquisition of property through theft, and thus the painting should be returned to them. They also cite a new amendment to the federal Holocaust Era Art Recovery (Hear) Act, which prohibits art possessors from relying on defenses based on the passage of time, including acquisitive prescription.
The TBCF, however, contests these statutes, arguing that the California law retroactively denies them their vested property rights without due process, while the Hear Act would also be unconstitutional if applied. Both governments have intervened, defending the constitutionality of their new laws. Another lawsuit is pending against the NSM for a Lucas Cranach the Elder diptych, stolen by Nazi Hermann Göring in 1940.
The NSM claims the re-litigation is misguided and requests a permanent injunction against future litigation.
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