Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025
This bill, named the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025, would clarify and strengthen the existing Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016 ( the 2016 Act) by removing time-based and other non-merits defenses that courts sometimes rely on to dismiss Nazi-looted art claims. In practice, it seeks to ensure that claims to recover art looted during the Nazi era are decided on their merits rather than being defeated by procedural defenses such as statutes of limitations, laches, adverse possession, or discretionary defenses like act of state, forum non-conveniens, or international comity. The measure also expands the reach of the Act to cover claims against governments or their agents and allows for nationwide service of process. It makes clear that these changes apply to both pending cases and new filings as of enactment, and it preserves severability if any provision is held invalid. In short, the bill is aimed at removing procedural obstacles that have blocked or delayed Nazi-looted art claims and ensuring such claims can proceed toward merits-based resolution, even decades after the original loss, while broadening the types of defendants and the procedural framework in which these cases can be brought.
Key Points
- 1The bill states the intent to permit Nazi-looted art claims to be brought notwithstanding the passage of time, and to resolve them on the merits, precluding time-based defenses such as laches, adverse possession, and other non-merits defenses.
- 2Non-merits discretionary defenses—such as the act of state doctrine, international comity, forum non-conveniens, prudential exhaustion, and similar doctrines—may not be used to dismiss these claims.
- 3It expands the scope to allow claims involving Nazi persecution by a covered government or its agents, and clarifies that such claims are not limited by the domestic takings rule from Philipp v. Germany.
- 4The bill adds that civil actions under the Act can proceed with nationwide service of process, allowing service in any district where the defendant is found or transacts business.
- 5It applies to both cases pending on or after the date of enactment and to new filings, and it includes severability language to keep the remainder of the Act intact if any provision is struck down.