From the Lady in Gold (Republic of Austria v. Altmann, 541 U.S. 677 (2004)) to the Guelph Treasure (Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp, 141 S. Ct. 703 (2021)), claims to cultural property stolen by the Nazis during World War II have driven much of the jurisprudence under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). A number of these cases have been pending for more than a decade. This year, we have significant new decisions in cases involving Pissarro (Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation, No. 20-1566 (U.S.)) and the fabulous Herzog collection (De Csepel v. Republic of Hungary, 2022 WL 678076 (D.C. Cir. 2022)). The Panel will discuss current issues in FSIA litigation, including (1) the extraterritorial reach of U.S. jurisdiction, e.g., choice of law, foreign discovery and turn-over orders, and (2) the balance between private rights and foreign relations in recent FSIA cases.
