[MSN] Court rejects big fees in Nazi art case

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Court rejects big fees in Nazi art case
Staff and agencies
17 February, 2007

By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer Fri Feb 16, 5:02 PM ET

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A lawyer‘s $15.7 million fee for negotiating the return of art stolen by the Nazis was too high, a Dutch court ruled Friday.

Jacques Goudstikker‘s American heirs contested the bill, so the lawyer sought to block the return of 198 works being held by the Dutch government until he was paid 20 percent of the estimated value.

The Hague District Court sided in part with the descendants, allowing them to ship the works to the United States.

"A multiplication factor of four is not unreasonable, under the given circumstances," the court said in its written ruling. It left it up to both sides to negotiate the exact amount.

Christie‘s estimated the collection, which includes masterpieces by Jan Steen and Salomon van Ruysdael, is worth $79 million to $110 million.

He died after falling through a trap door on an outbound ship.

A few were auctioned, but 267 works worth tens of millions of dollars remained in art museums around the Netherlands.

But after an international debate began in the late 1990s on compensating Jews for stolen Holocaust-era assets, an independent commission recommended the Dutch government return the works.

A handful of others were returned to the family by buyers after their origin became known, including the Israel Museum, Germany‘s Lower Saxony State Museum and one owned by a private American collector.

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