Welfenschatz: Court of Appeals confirms that US courts lack jurisdiction over 2015 lawsuit against SPK
Press release from 07/15/2023
Following the unanimous decision of the US Supreme Court, the US Court of Appeal once again halts the action for the return of the Guelph Treasure.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia today affirmed the 2022 decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C., granting SPK's motion to dismiss the restitution action brought against it with respect to the Guelph Treasure. This decision follows the unanimous decision of the US Supreme Court in 2021, which reversed an earlier denial of the SPK's motion to dismiss this claim and remanded the case to the district court for a decision.
Hermann Parzinger, President of the SPK, says: "This judgement confirms the SPK's view that the claim for the return of the Guelph Treasure should not be heard by a US court. The Foundation is therefore pleased that the Court of Appeal has rejected the challenge to our motion to dismiss this claim."
The SPK has long been of the opinion that this restitution claim is also unfounded on the merits, as the sale of the Guelph Treasure in 1935 was not a forced sale due to Nazi persecution. This view, which was also confirmed by the Advisory Commission in 2014, was reached after years of intensive research.
"The SPK has been conducting professional provenance research on its collections for years and is guided by the Washington Principles, the international standard for restitution matters. We have already restituted more than 350 works of art and over 2,000 books in order to achieve justice for Jewish families. The SPK will continue to seek just and fair solutions for all its restitution cases," Parzinger concluded.
The lawsuit for the return of the Guelph Treasure was filed in 2015 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. (Philipp and Stiebel vs. Federal Republic of Germany and Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz). In 2019, the SPK asked the US Supreme Court to decide whether the US courts have jurisdiction over the case and whether, even if jurisdiction exists, the case should be dismissed because it would be better resolved in Germany.
The Supreme Court granted SPK's motion and issued a unanimous decision in early 2021 reversing the lower court's denial of SPK's motion to dismiss the case. It ordered the case to be remanded to the district court, which was to rule anew on SPK's motion to dismiss in light of its judgement. The district court granted SPK's motion to dismiss in 2022, and the plaintiffs appealed that decision to the court of appeals.
SPK is represented in this matter in the United States by the law firm of Wiggin and Dana.
For more information about the Guelph Treasure and a detailed historical review of the 1935 sale, please visit: https://www.spkmagazin.de/welfenschatz.html