LA MESA, Calif.—The U.S. Supreme Court revived on April 21 a lawsuit brought by a La Mesa resident who claimed he and his family should have ownership of a French Impressionist painting looted from their ancestor by the Nazis.
The dispute over Camille Pissarro’s “Rue Saint-Honore, Afternoon, Rain Effect” stems from a lawsuit filed by now-deceased La Mesa resident Claude Cassirer, who alleged he and his family should retain ownership of the painting rather than the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation, an entity controlled by the Kingdom of Spain.
Cassirer’s grandmother, Lilly Cassirer, inherited the painting but surrendered it to the Nazis in 1939 in order to obtain an exit visa and escape Berlin. The painting exchanged hands over the decades and was eventually sold to the foundation, which placed it in its museum in Madrid.
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