Art Dealer Professionals Beware of Purchasing Stolen Goods

By Sekou Campbell, Esq.

Judges in the District Court for the Central District of California, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (twice, here and here) and Justices in the U.S. Supreme Court have heard the story of Norton Simon, a case initiated on May 1, 2007 by a family member of a victim of Nazi art looting. Indeed, legislators have even weighed in on the case by amending California Code of Civil Procedure § 338 (Assembly Bill 2765, introduced on February 25, 2010). The latest Court (from the C.D. Cal.) pronouncement states that, at least when it comes to museums, galleries, auctioneers or dealers, the ancient maxim caveat emptor (buyer beware) strictly applies to bona fide purchasers of stolen artwork. Therefore, art theft victims, or their heirs, like Marei von Saher can bring claims against art dealer professionals like the Norton Simon Museum of Art in Pasadena even after the statute of limitations has run, if the subject artwork was “subsequently purchased” and “actually discovered” within the limitations period.

Facts

Von Saher alleges that she is heir to the diptych entitled “Adam and Eve,” a pair of sixteenth century oil paintings on wood panels by Lucas Cranach taken in a forced sale by the Nazis during World War II. Von Saher’s Dutch father-in-law, Jacques Goudstikker, purchased “Adam and Eve” in 1931. After Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, Jacques Goudstikker fled Jewish persecution to South America by ship, but died in an accident en route. He left behind a “Blackbook” containing a log of much of his art collection, which included an entry for “Adam and Eve.” In May 1945, the Allied Forces recovered, among other artwork, the looted “Adam and Eve” and returned it to the Netherlands. There, Dutch restitution law required claimants to return money (from a “forced sale,” a sale of assets far below market value) as a condition for recovery of looted artwork. Therefore, Desi Goudstikker, Jacques’ widow, did not file a restitution claim for “Adam and Eve;” she also explicitly declined to waive any claim to the subject artwork. The Dutch government retained possession of the piece until 1961, when it transferred the work to George Stroganoff-Scherbatoff without notifying the Goudstikker family. Norton Simon then purchased “Adam and Eve” from Stroganoff-Scherbatoff in 1971 and has “possessed” them ever since. Desi Goudstikker died in 1996 leaving Von Saher as the sole Goudstikker heir. “Adam and Eve” went on display for the first time on October 25, 2000 at Norton Simon. Sometime thereafter, Norton Simon and Von Saher entered an agreement to toll the statute of limitations (essentially calling timeout on the statute that limits the time when a party can bring certain claims).