## Facts

- Vincent van Gogh painted *Vue de l'Asile et de la Chapelle de Saint-Rémy* in 1889.
- The painting was purchased by Margarete Mauthner, a Jewish art collector in Germany.
- Mauthner’s descendants (the Orkins) alleged she was wrongfully dispossessed of the painting during the Nazi era, entitling them to ownership.
- Elizabeth Taylor acquired the painting at auction in 1963 and possessed it openly.
- In 2004, the Orkins sued Taylor in federal court seeking recovery of the painting, asserting a claim under the Holocaust Victims Redress Act (HVRA) and related California state-law claims.

## Issues

1. Whether the Holocaust Victims Redress Act creates an express or implied private right of action permitting heirs to sue to recover Holocaust-era property.
2. Whether the heirs’ California state-law claims (including conversion and recovery of personal property) were barred by the applicable statutes of limitation.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of the complaint.
- The court held the HVRA does not create an express or implied private right of action.
- The court held the state-law claims were untimely under California statutes of limitation.
- The court did not resolve disputed historical facts about how Mauthner lost the painting because the appeal presented only legal issues.

## Legal Principles

- A federal statute creates a private cause of action only when Congress provides a private right and a private remedy; absent clear textual or structural indicators (and supporting legislative intent), courts will not imply one.
- The Holocaust Victims Redress Act is primarily a statement of policy and congressional encouragement regarding restitution and does not confer enforceable private rights in federal court.
- Under California law, claims for conversion or recovery of personal property are subject to statutory limitations periods that generally run from the wrongful taking/withholding or from when the claimant knew or reasonably should have known of the basis for the claim.
- Extended delay in bringing suit—particularly where the current possessor’s ownership is public—bars relief under California limitations rules.

## Conclusion

The Ninth Circuit upheld dismissal because the HVRA supplies no private federal remedy for Holocaust-related art restitution claims and, applying California law, the heirs’ decades-late state-law claims were time-barred, leaving Taylor’s possession undisturbed.


Orkin v. Taylor, 487 F.3d 734 (9th Cir. 2007)