In the first full trial concerning Nazi-looted art in the U.S., a Baker & Hostetler team led by Oren Warshavsky won possession of a watercolor by Austrian Expressionist painter Egon Schiele for the firm’s clients. The dispute involved three parties, all with Jewish roots, claiming to be the rightful owner of “Portrait of the Artist’s Wife.” After a three-week bench trial, Rochester, New York Supreme Court Justice Daniel Doyle earlier this month found the heirs of Karl Mayländer established title to the artwork. The judge found trial evidence established that Mayländer, a textile merchant and art collector murdered by Nazis, was under duress when his collection came into the possession of an acquaintance. The Baker & Hostetler team included Tatiana Markel, Michelle Usitalo and Victoria Stork.
An appellate team led by Roman Martinez of Latham & Watkins got the Eleventh Circuit to uphold a summary judgment win for Home Depot. Members of the retailer’s 401(k) plan sued alleging fiduciary breaches under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. In a 30-page published opinion issued earlier this month, the appellate court held that ERISA plaintiffs bear the burden of proof on loss causation. The court further found that to meet that burden, plaintiffs must show “a hypothetical prudent fiduciary in the same circumstances as the defendant, armed with the information that a proper evaluation would have yielded, would not (or could not) have made the same choice.” Martinez argued the appeal. He was joined by associates Charles Dameron and Brent Murphy and co-counsel David Tetrick Jr. and Darren Shuler of King & Spalding.
