Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act of 2016: A Federal Reform to State Statutes of Limitations for Art Restitution Claims

On December 16, 2016, Congress passed the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act of 2016. The HEAR Act revives previously time-barred claims and temporarily institutes a new national statute of limitations, which preempts preexisting state statutes of limitations. The HEAR Act has noble goals. It will make it easier for claimants to institute lawsuits to recover lost property. And it responds to a perception that procedural time-barriers play too decisive a role in the outcome of claims for the restitution of holocaust expropriated art — in contravention with pubic international law commitments. But in the process, the HEAR Act rides roughshod over a traditional state prerogative and alters the traditional balance struck between bona fide purchasers and true owners in the recovery of lost property. Moreover, because the HEAR Act only displaces state law in a narrow range of cases, the HEAR adds uncertainty to the whole legal fabric for the recovery of lost art. Ultimately, whether the HEAR Act will actually lead more restitution of art is far from certain. But it is certain that the HEAR Act will increase uncertainty and at least the threat of litigation in the immediate future. Because of the outsized importance of statutes of limitations in claims for restitution of art lost in the Nazi era, the HEAR Act will have a profound impact on litigation for art restitution. The change to the litigation scheme will have repercussions for the art market that will reverberate beyond the territorial borders of the United States.