CASSIRER V. THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA COLLECTION, No. 19-55616 (9th Cir. 2024)
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This case was brought by the plaintiffs-appellants, David Cassirer, the Estate of Ava Cassirer, and the United Jewish Federation of San Diego County, against the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation, an instrumentality of the Kingdom of Spain. The case centers around a painting by French Impressionist Camille Pissarro, which was stolen by the Nazis in 1939 Germany. The painting eventually came into the possession of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, which has publicly displayed it in Madrid, Spain since 1993. When the plaintiffs learned of the painting's location in 2000, they petitioned for its return, but were denied, leading to the present lawsuit filed in 2005.
The case hinged on whether Spanish or California law should govern the determination of ownership of the painting. Under Spanish law, the defendant would retain the painting, having gained prescriptive title through possession for over three years in good faith. Under California law, the plaintiffs would recover the painting, as a thief cannot pass good title to stolen property.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, on remand from the United States Supreme Court, applied California’s three-step “governmental interest analysis” for choice-of-law disputes. The court found that there was a true conflict between the laws of Spain and California, and that each jurisdiction had a legitimate interest in applying its laws to the case. The court then resolved the conflict by applying the law of the jurisdiction whose governmental interests would be more impaired if its law were not applied. The court concluded that Spain’s governmental interests would be more impaired by the application of California law than would California’s governmental interests be impaired by the application of Spanish law. Thus, Spanish law applied, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection had gained prescriptive title to the painting. The court affirmed the district court’s judgment in favor of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection.
Court Description: Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act On remand from the United States Supreme Court, the panel affirmed the district court’s judgment in favor of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, an instrumentality of the Kingdom of Spain, in an action under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, seeking the return of a Pissarro painting stolen by the Nazis in 1939 Germany.
The Supreme Court vacated the panel’s prior decision and remanded with instructions to apply California’s choice-of-law rules, rather than federal choice-of-law rules, to determine whether California law or Spanish law governed the disputed claim of title to the painting. Under California law the plaintiffs would recover the art, while under Spanish law they would not.
Applying California’s choice-of-law test, the three-step “governmental interest analysis," the panel first reaffirmed its prior decision, in which it determined, under Steps One and Two of the test, that the applicable laws of California and Spain differed and that a true conflict existed with respect to each jurisdiction’s interests in applying its laws to this case. Addressing Step Three of California’s test, the so-called “comparative impairment” analysis, the panel resolved the conflict by applying the law of the jurisdiction whose governmental interests would be the more impaired were its law not applied. The panel concluded that, under the facts of this case, Spain’s governmental interests would be more impaired by the application of California law than would California’s governmental interests be impaired by the application of Spanish law. Thus, Spanish law must apply.
Applying Spanish law, the panel held that the Thyssen- Bornemisza Collection had gained prescriptive title to the painting pursuant to Article 1955 of the Spanish Civil Code. The panel therefore affirmed the district court’s order granting judgment in favor of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection.
Concurring, Judge Callahan wrote that she agreed with the result, but it was at odds with her moral compass, and Spain should have voluntarily relinquished the painting.
This opinion or order relates to an opinion or order originally issued on August 17, 2020.
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