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Category Archives: Civil Forfeiture

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United States Abandons Finally Its Effort to Seize Mask of Ka Nefer Nefer in St. Louis, Egypt’s Plans Unknown

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Civil Forfeiture, Customs, Museums

The Department of Justice has made public its plans to let the deadline pass for seeking rehearing or further review of the June, 2014 decision affirming the dismissal of its efforts to seize the Mask of Ka Nefer Nefer in the St. Louis Art Museum by civil forfeiture.  In an interview with St. Louis Post-Dispatch,… Continue Reading

St. Louis Art Museum Dismisses Its Lawsuit Over Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer, Could Bring it Again if It Chose

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Civil Forfeiture, Customs

I wondered aloud two weeks ago what the St. Louis Art Museum would do with its declaratory judgment action over the Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th  Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the related forfeiture action brought by the government.  With the question of seizure answered for good, I… Continue Reading

What Happens to St. Louis Art Museum Suit Against the U.S. over the Mask of Ka Nefer Nefer—Will Museum Dismiss its Case Voluntarily?

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Civil Forfeiture, Customs

On the heels of the St. Louis Art Museum’s victory against the civil forfeiture action over the Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer, the question arises what the museum will do with the lawsuit it filed in 2011 concerning the mask.  That lawsuit, The Art Museum Subdistrict of the Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District of the City… Continue Reading

“Flea Market Renoir” Possibly Taken from Baltimore Museum Heads to Court

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Civil Forfeiture, Museums

The 1879 Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting entitled “Paysage Bords de Seine” that was discovered at a Virgina flea market, but which may also have been stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art more than sixty years ago, is now the subject of a federal court case in Alexandria, Virginia.  The United States has seized the painting and… Continue Reading

Court Denies Request to Amend Complaint Seeking Forfeiture of Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Civil Forfeiture, Collections, Customs

  The U.S. District Court in St. Louis has denied the government’s request to amend the complaint seeking civil forfeiture of the Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer from the St. Louis Art Museum.  Echoing some of the timeliness points we made after the government’s request for reconsideration of the dismissal of the case was denied on June 1,… Continue Reading

Government Tries to Save “Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer” Case Against St. Louis Art Museum, but Did U.S. Miss Its Own Deadline?

By Nicholas O'Donnell on Posted in Civil Forfeiture, Collections, Customs, Restitution

After the U.S. District Court denied the government’s Motion to Reconsider its earlier dismissal of the claim to the Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer in the St. Louis Museum of Art, the government has tried another procedure to revive the case, one that is normally unremarkable.  A review of the filings in the case raises the question, however,… Continue Reading