Marei Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum of Art At

This case concerns the fate of two life-size panels painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder in the sixteenth century. Adam and Eve (collectively, “the Cranachs” or “the panels”) hang today in Pasadena’s Norton Simon Museum of Art (“the Museum”). Marei Von Saher claims she is the rightful owner of the panels, which the Nazis forcibly purchased from her deceased husband’s family during World War II. The district court dismissed Von Saher’s complaint as insufficient to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and that dismissal is before us on appeal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse and remand.

I. Background

In reviewing the district court’s decision, we must “accept factual allegations in the complaint as true and construe the pleadings in the light most favorable to” Von Saher. Manzarek v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 519 F.3d 1025, 1031 (9th Cir.2008). We therefore hew closely to the *715 allegations in the complaint in describing the facts.

A. Jacques Goudstikker Acquires the Cranachs

For the 400 years following their creation in 1530, the panels hung in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Kiev, Ukraine. In 1927, Soviet…

dissenting:

The United States has determined that the Netherlands afforded the Goudstikker family an adequate opportunity to recover the artwork that is the subject of this litigation. Our nation’s foreign policy is to respect the finality of the Netherlands’ restitution proceedings and to avoid involvement in any ownership dispute over the Cranachs. Because entertaining Mar-ei Von Saher’s state law claims would conflict with this federal policy, I respectfully dissent.

I.

The United States has articulated the foreign policy applicable to the very artwork and transactions at issue here. When Von Saher petitioned for certiorari *728 from our court’s decision rejecting her claims under Cal.Civ.Proc.Code § 354.3 on preemption grounds, the Supreme Court invited the Solicitor General to express the position of the United States on the question there presented. The' United States set forth its policy in an amicus curiae brief signed by Harold Hongju Koh, then the Legal Adviser to the Department of State, and Neal Kumar Katyal, then the Acting Solicitor General.

The United States explained that its post-World War II policy of “external restitution” did not end on September 15, 1948,…

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

MAREI VON SAHER, No. 12-55733 Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. v. 2:07-CV-02866-

JFW-JTL

NORTON SIMON MUSEUM OF ART AT

PASADENA; NORTON SIMON ART

FOUNDATION, OPINION

Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California John F. Walter, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted August 22, 2013—Pasadena, California

Filed June 6, 2014

Before: Harry Pregerson, Dorothy W. Nelson, and Kim McLane Wardlaw, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge D.W. Nelson; Dissent by Judge Wardlaw SUMMARY*

Federal Policy Conflict

The panel reversed the district court’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) dismissal of Marei Von Saher’s action claiming that she was the rightful owner of two panels painted by Lucas Cranach, Adam and Eve, which hang in Pasadena’s Norton Simon Museum of Art.

Relying on California state law, Von Saher alleged that the Nazis forcibly purchased the panels from her deceased husband’s family in the Netherlands during World War II. The district court held…