Rosner v. United States

231 F.Supp.2d 1202 (2002)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

During WWII, Hungarian Jews were robbed of all their valuables. The gold and valuables were eventually loaded on a train and sent to Germany. The train was known as the Gold Train. It consisted of over 40 cars, but it never got to Germany. The U.S. Army seized the train outside of Salzburg, Austria. It was eventually moved to Maglan and unloaded with the contents put in storage in Salzburg. All but 1,200 paintings were stored there, and the paintings were stored in another military warehouse. Rosner (P) maintains that the property was identifiable with virtually all the items in locked containers with the names and addresses of the owners on them. P also contends that the U.S. government knew that the property belonged to Hungarian Jews. Despite this, in 1948, the property was declared unidentifiable and sold without anyone’s knowledge. A substantial amount of the property was looted as well. P contends that only when the Government released its secret data in 1999 did they learn for the first time the disposition of their property. P of course sued D and D moved to dismiss on untimely grounds, that the complaint was barred by sovereign immunity, that international law claims are barred because Congress did not waive sovereign immunity, and that the claims for Fifth Amendment and breach of implied in fact contracts of bailment fail to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.