WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard a last-chance appeal from a Jewish family in California seeking to recover an Impressionist masterpiece that was seized by the Nazis in 1939 and has been on display in a Spanish museum since 1993.
At issue now after years of litigation, most of it in a Los Angeles court, is whether the dispute should be resolved under the law of California, where the family sued, or the law of Spain, where the painting was sold and displayed.
Under California law, “thieves cannot pass good title to anyone, including a good faith purchaser,” lawyers for David Cassirer and the Jewish Federation of San Diego County said in their appeal.
