Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025

The law amends the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016 to make four major changes. First, it removes the December 31, 2026 filing deadline, making the right to sue permanent (though claimants must still file within six years of discovering the property). Second, it prohibits courts from dismissing otherwise timely claims based on time-related defenses — including laches, adverse possession, acquisitive prescription, and usucapion — doctrines that had been used to defeat claims in several federal circuit courts. Third, it bars non-merits discretionary dismissal grounds such as the act of state doctrine, international comity, forum non conveniens, and prudential exhaustion. Fourth, it permits suits against foreign states without regard to the nationality or citizenship of the alleged victim, and it authorizes nationwide service of process so defendants can be served in any U.S. judicial district where they are found, reside, have an agent, or do business.

All changes apply to civil claims pending on the date of enactment — including cases on appeal or within the appeal window — as well as to claims filed afterward. The law does not change what property qualifies or the six-year discovery-based filing window; it narrows only the defenses available to defendants and expands the courts' jurisdictional reach.

Holocaust survivors, their heirs, and the estates of victims seeking to reclaim looted art or property in U.S. courts are the primary beneficiaries. Museums, galleries, private collectors, foundations, and foreign states currently holding disputed works — including those defending pending litigation — face a narrowed set of legal defenses. Federal and state courts adjudicating these claims are also directly affected by the new jurisdictional and procedural rules.

For claimants, the elimination of time-based and non-merits defenses removes the most common grounds on which courts had dismissed recovery lawsuits — often without reaching the question of who rightfully owns the property. Cases that were previously defeated by laches, international comity, or the act of state doctrine can now proceed to the merits, and pending appeals benefit immediately. For defendants holding disputed works, a narrower set of procedural escape routes means more claims will go to trial or settlement on ownership facts.

The law is largely self-executing: its prohibitions on specific defenses and its new jurisdictional rules apply directly in any court hearing a covered claim. No agency rulemaking is required. Courts must apply the new rules to pending cases immediately upon enactment, including cases on appeal. Plaintiffs invoking claims against foreign states under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act will rely on the newly added subsection deeming covered claims to involve rights in violation of international law, without needing to establish the victim's nationality. A severability clause ensures that invalidation of any single provision does not affect the rest of the law.