| Republic Of Austria V. Altmann |
Article Index for Republic Of |
Limousines in Republic |
Website Links For Republic |
Information AboutRepublic Of Austria V. Altmann |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA V. ALTMANN | |
| 2004 in law | |
| united states supreme court cases | |
|
''Republic of Austria v. Altmann'', 541 U.S. 677 ( 2004 ), was a case in which the Supreme Court Of The United States held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act applies retroactively. This means that, regarding lawsuits filed after its enactment, the FSIA standards of Sovereign Immunity and its exceptions apply even to conduct that took place before 1976. The result of this for the Plaintiff , Maria Altmann , was that she could bring an action against Austria for recovery of a painting stolen by the Nazis and now housed in a government museum. Both parties agreed to Arbitration in an Austrian court in 2005 . The court ruled in favour of Altmann on January 16 2006 . Adele Bloch-Bauer, the subject of two of the paintings, had bequeathed them to the Austrian government in her will. {Link without Title} However, the Supreme Court determined that Adele was never the legal owner of the paintings. Rather, it determined that Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer was their legal owner and that Altmann was the rightful heir of Ferdinand's estate. The ruling in favour of Maria Altmann came as a great shock to the Austrian public and the government. The loss of the paintings was regarded in Austria as a loss of national treasure. The Austrian government received wide criticism from the opposition parties for its failure to have secured a deal with Maria Altmann at an earlier stage. Maria Altmann told the government that the time was up and there would be no deal from her side anymore. She had attempted earlier to come to some mutual agreement in the 1990s, however the government kept on ignoring her offers and her letter. The paintings left Austria in March 2006 and were flown to Los Angeles . There were various attempts by Austrians to buy at least some of the works back. REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS | ||
| "http://wwwhistorikerkommissiongvat/" class="copylinks" target="_blank">Republic of Austria Historikerkommission |
|
|