IFARreports

Author's photos may be sole documentation of fragments of Assyrian reliefs now on the market

California Court publishes two opinions that interpret and discuss the law relating to accrual of a claim to recover stolen art. Earlier trial court rulings in Naftziger v. American Numismatic Society and Society of California Pioneers v. Baker were reversed by the Court of Appeal. IFAR and California museums filed amici curiae briefs arguing that the discovery rule should be applied to delay accrual of a claim to recover stolen art until the theft victim discovers the whereabouts of the stolen art.

Society of California Pioneers v. Baker is being settled out of court; Naftziger v. American Numismatic Society was remanded to trial court and may now proceed.

Letters on the two California cases from John Henry Merryman, professor emeritus at Stanford Law School and a member of IFAR’s Law Advisory Council, and from Carla J. Shapreau, attorney representing IFAR and the California museums in the amici curiae brief and author of the article above. Both comment on issues around statutes of limitation in such recovery cases.