Case Summary

Précis
This federal case in Texas pits the heirs of Max Emden, a Jewish-German art collector, against the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston over a title claim to Bernardo Bellotto’s The Marketplace at Pirna. The heirs’ claim focused on duress. They argued that Mr. Emden was forced to sell the painting to Nazi art collectors due to his economic hardship against him during the World War II. Instead of tackling the duress arguments, the museum filed a motion to dismiss the case, which the District Court for the Southern District of Texas granted because, according to the court, they would otherwise have to invalidate a sovereign act under the Act of State Doctrine...