US removes restitution deadline
Congress removed the sunset clause from the HEAR Act, effectively eliminating the deadline for claims over Holocaust‑looted art and clearing the way for additional restitution lawsuits. (Multiple outlets reported the legislative change and its legal effect on claim timing.) (timesofisrael.com; forward.com)
A new federal law has erased the 2026 deadline for claims to recover art looted during the Holocaust. President Donald Trump signed the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025 on April 13, 2026, after the Senate passed it by unanimous consent on December 10, 2025, and the House passed it by voice vote on March 16, 2026. The original 2016 law had said it would “cease to have effect” on January 1, 2027, except for cases already pending. The new law removes that sunset and keeps the national rule that families can sue within six years of actually discovering the artwork and their claim to it. Congress also rewrote the law to block several defenses based on delay or procedure, including laches, adverse possession, acquisitive prescription, usucapion, the act of state doctrine, forum non conveniens, international comity, and prudential exhaustion. The bill text says those defenses had frustrated Congress’s original intent to have claims decided on the merits. That change reaches beyond timing. It responds to court decisions including Zuckerman v. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation, and Von Saher v. Norton Simon Museum, which are cited in the new statute as examples of courts relying on non-merits defenses. The law covers artwork and other property lost between 1933 and 1945 because of Nazi persecution. Congress said in 2016 that the Nazis confiscated or misappropriated as many as 650,000 works of art across Europe. Restitution cases often turn on late discoveries, because heirs may not know where a painting is for decades. Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that advocates argued the old sunset clause gave current holders an incentive to keep disputed works out of public view until the deadline passed. Supporters in both parties framed the bill as a fix to the 2016 law, not a new claims system. Senator John Cornyn introduced S. 1884 on May 22, 2025, with Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal and other bipartisan co-sponsors, and Representative Laurel Lee led the House effort. The Congressional Budget Office said the bill would likely lead to more civil cases in federal court because it limits defenses available to current possessors. Museums and collectors now face a legal landscape with fewer procedural exits and no federal expiration date to wait out. For families still tracing works lost in the Nazi era, the calendar is no longer the main obstacle. The next fights move back to provenance, ownership records, and whether a court finds the claim itself valid.
