Pasadena Appeals Court Rules Against Resident in Nazi-Looted Painting Suit

PASADENA (CNS) - A federal appeals court in Pasadena ruled Tuesday that Madrid's Thyssen-Bornemisza museum can keep a French impressionist painting the Nazis looted from the ancestor of a San Diego County resident who claimed ownership of the piece.

The 3-0 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena came in a Nazi art theft case which began in 2005 and reached the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago.

The dispute over Camille Pissarro's "Rue Saint-Honore, Afternoon, Rain Effect" stems from a lawsuit filed by now-deceased La Mesa resident Claude Cassirer, who alleged he and his family should retain ownership of the street scene rather than the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation, an entity controlled by the Kingdom of Spain.

Cassirer's grandmother, Lilly Cassirer, inherited the painting but surrendered it to the Nazis in 1939 in order to obtain an exit visa and escape Berlin. The painting exchanged hands over the decades and was eventually sold to the foundation, which placed it in its museum in Madrid.

Claude Cassirer later discovered the painting was hanging in the foundation's museum and after undergoing attempts to have it returned, sued in federal court to recover it.

While lower courts ruled that Spanish property law should govern the painting's ownership -- resulting in a ruling awarding the piece to the foundation -- the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the case should return to a lower court and California law should be applied to determine the painting's ownership.

In the appellate decision, Circuit Judge Carlos Bea determined that Spain's interest in keeping the painting in its museum outweighed California's interest in deterring theft and obtaining recoveries for victims of stolen art who live in the state.

The judge wrote that the finding justified applying Spanish law rather than California law, entitling the Thyssen to the painting because it had in good faith owned and displayed it for eight years before its ownership was questioned.

In a concurring opinion, Circuit Judge Consuelo Callahan said Spain should have relinquished the painting, reflecting its commitment to returning Nazi-looted art to victims, but the law compelled a different outcome.

"I wish that it were otherwise," the judge wrote.