Sep. 21, 2013

Federal bar plumbs legal questions around looted art

The Federal Bar Association of Los Angeles hosted a panel discussion on the legal quandaries surrounding the hundreds of thousands of Nazi-looted art pieces that were scattered across the globe in the wake of World War II. The event featured 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Alex Kozinksi, whose parents survived the Holocaust, and Claremont McKenna College professor Jonathan Petropoulos, an expert on Nazi-looted art. The panel also included Simon J. Frankel of Covington & Burling LLP's San Francisco office and John J. Byrne of Byrne Goldenberg & Hamilton in Washington, D.C., both of whom have been involved in litigation surrounding works allegedly looted by Nazis. Moderated by Ray Dowd of Dunnington Bartholow & Miller LLP in New York, the group laid out some of the problems around determining the rightful owners of looted art. Kozinski remained tight-lipped for the most part — there's a 9th Circuit case involving Nazi-looted art that he may be asked to weigh in on — but did say such suits are often difficult to adjudicate because of the international ramifications and statute of limitations constraints they entail. — Henry Meier