Rightful Heirs In Nazi-Era Cases: What We Can Expect For Gurlitt Claims

In virtually all Holocaust-era claims, locating the rightful owner – and his or her heirs – of an artwork that was misappropriated by the Nazis is an issue of utmost importance to the resolution of a claim. Not only because the artwork should logically be returned to its rightful owner, but because in the event a claim is filed, courts in the U.S. will only allow the case to proceed where the claimant is the proper representative of the estate.

We saw this in the case Schoeps v. Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Found., 2007 NY Slip Op 52183 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2007). The court in that case dismissed the action, finding that pursuant to the Estates, Powers and Trusts Law, the claimant failed to take the necessary steps to be appointed representative of the estate. Thus, the claimant lacked standing and the case was dismissed. The claimant in Schoeps subsequently filed a new case in federal court against a different party, and this time made sure to include all of the heirs of the original owner[s] as claimants. In contrast to the state court decision, the court in Schoeps v. Museum of Modern Art, 594 F.Supp.2d 461 (S.D.N.Y. 2009) found that the claimants had the legal capacity to pursue the claim, even without first having been appointed as representatives of their respective estates. Under German law, which was held to govern the issue, the decedent's assets vest immediately in his or her heirs at death; there is no "estate" as there is under U.S. law. Since the claimants represented all possible heirs entitled to the artworks at issue, the court found that the heirs represented the proper parties in interest, even though there was no official estate. Thus, the claimants were not obligated to take additional steps before litigating the case.

As Schoeps demonstrates, identifying the proper heirs is critical to Nazi-era claims, and we are likely to see this issue come up in one of the most recent cases of Nazi-looted art – the curious case of Cornelius Gurlitt.

In 2012, German customs investigators seized approximately 1,400 pieces of artwork from Gurlitt, a German recluse whose father was Hildebrand Gurlitt, a dealer who was approved by the Hitler to buy "degenerate" works of art deaccessioned by the Nazi authorities from German museums. The authorities entered Gurlitt's apartment pursuant to an unrelated allegation of tax evasion and found a remarkable collection of art, including works by Picasso, Chagall, Renoir and Matisse, which was then seized as...