Kunstsammlungen zu Weimar v. Elicofon, 748-749
| Citation | 478 F.2d 231 |
| Decision Date | 25 April 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 748-749,Dockets 72-2305-2306.,748-749 |
| Parties | KUNSTSAMMLUNGEN zu WEIMAR, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Edward I. ELICOFON, Defendant-Appellee. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Edward I. ELICOFON, Defendant-Appellee, Elisabeth Mathilde Isidore Erbgrossherzogin von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (Grand Duchess of Saxony-Weimar), Plaintiff-Intervenor-Appellee, Kunstsammlungen zu Weimar, Proposed Plaintiff-Intervenor-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit) |
Harry I. Rand, New York City (Lawrence M. Kaye, Botein, Hays, Sklar & Herzberg, New York City, on the brief), for proposed plaintiff-intervenor-appellant.
Richard W. Hulbert, New York City (Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, New York City, on the brief), for defendant-appellee Elicofon.
Albert D. Jordan, New York City (Elliot Paskoff, Horst Kurnik and Valicenti, Leighton, Reid & Pine, New York City, on the brief), for defendant-appellee Federal Republic of Germany.
Herbert Strong, New York City, for plaintiff-intervenor-appellee Duchess of Saxony-Weimar.
Before BREITENSTEIN,* KAUFMAN and MANSFIELD, Circuit Judges.
On January 27, 1969, the Federal Republic of Germany brought suit in the district court for the Eastern District of New York against Edward Elicofon, a New York resident, to recover two valuable paintings by the renowned artist Albrecht Duerer, alleged to have been stolen in 1945 from Schwartzburg Castle in Germany during the American Occupation. The Federal Republic asserts that the paintings, executed in the year 1499, are the property of the German people, having been in the possession of a state museum at the time of theft, and that it is the only government that may properly represent the German people in an American court. On March 25, 1969 the Grand Duchess of Saxony-Weimar was granted leave to intervene, based on a claim that the Duerer masterpieces have been part of the collection of the Grand Duke of Saxony-Weimar since 1824 and that title to the paintings rests in her through an assignment from the Grand-Duke.
On April 14, 1969, the Kunstsammlungen zu Weimar (Weimar Art Collection), an entity existing under the laws of the German Democratic Republic, sought leave to intervene, and brought a separate action against Elicofon for return of the paintings. The Kunstsammlungen asserts that it has custody over the art collection from which the paintings allegedly were stolen and is, accordingly, the rightful owner of the Duerer works.
The motion to intervene was opposed by all parties, and Elicofon moved to dismiss the separate action...
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