Spain Can Be Sued In U.S. Over Painting Stolen by Germans

The U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has ruled that Spain can be sued in a U.S. court even though the work was stolen by Germany. According to the 9th Circuit, a U.S. law that shields foreign countries from lawsuits in the U.S. makes an exception for illegally expropriated property without requiring that the country against which the claim is made is the one that broke the law.

Claude Cassirer–an 88-year-old retired photographer who lives in San Diego, sued Spain and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation four years ago to recover the painting by French impressionist Camille Pissarro. The painting was bought by Cassirer’s great- grandfather in 1898. When his grandmother fled Germany in 1939, she was forced to surrender the painting.

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