Painting dispute to be arbitrated

In an agreement that will end a eight-year legal battle, 89-year-old Cheviot Hills resident Maria Altmann and the Republic of Austria have agreed to end their litigation in U.S. District Court regarding six Gustav Klimt paintings and to submit the dispute to binding arbitration in Austria.

Since 1998, Altmann has been trying to reclaim six Klimt paintings, worth an estimated $150 million, that were seized from her family by the Nazis in 1939 and have been in the possession of the Austrian National Museum for more than 50 years.

Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Altmann was entitled to proceed in court against the government of Austria, which had sought to have her lawsuit dismissed. A trial was scheduled to begin in October.

On Wednesday, attorneys for both sides said they were pleased by the decision. “We are delighted that the case will be going back to Austria for determination by Austrian law and by Austrians,” said Scott P. Cooper, attorney for Austria.

Altmann’s attorney, E. Randol Schoenberg, who had fought to have Altmann’s case heard in the United States, also hailed the agreement and said he had great faith in the three Austrian arbitrators chosen by both parties. “While we had a court date, a trial could drag it out for years and years,” Schoenberg said. “The binding final arbitration will be over this year, and Maria will be 90 next year; the fact that this will be decided by the time she is 90 makes me very happy.”