In an opinion Friday, Judge Rakoff ruled that the German state of Bavaria was entitled to sovereign immunity in a suit seeking return of a Picasso painting called Madame Soler that was allegedly the subject of a forced transfer from Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy to Justin Thannhauser under the then-Nazi regime in Germany  in 1934. Mr. Thannhauser later relocated to New York and then transferred the painting to Bavaria to be displayed in a museum. The plaintiffs sought to invoke an exception to sovereign immunity for commercial activity having a substantial connection to the United States, but Judge Rakoff ruled that the case, at bottom, concerned the events in Germany, not New York:
Continue Reading Judge Rakoff Rules Bavaria Has Sovereign Immunity From Suit Seeking Return of Picasso Painting