Cassirer Case Stays the Dispute Between The Getty and Armenian Church over the Zeyt'un Gospel Pages

The Los Angeles County Superior Court has agreed to follow a joint stipulation filed by the Getty Museum and the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America by ordering a suspension of the court case between the parties.

In June 2010 the Armenian Church sued the J. Paul Getty Museum for the return of seven missing pages from an illuminated Bible created in 1256.  The court last year ordered the parties to mediate the dispute. As recently as August 8, the parties told the court that they needed additional time to mediate. The parties earlier informed the court that they were discussing a possible solution to the Zeyt'un Gospel pages controversy, saying that a May 10, 2012 mediation session resulted in "substantial progress . . . toward a potential voluntary resolution of this dispute . . . ."

In their stipulation to stay the proceedings filed on October 19, the litigants both conclude that the case should be placed on hold pending the outcome of Claude Cassirer et al. v. Thyseen-Borne Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation.

Before he died, Cassirer filed a lawsuit in 2005 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California for the return of a painting titled “Rue Saint-HonorĂ©, Afternoon, Rain Effect.” Cassirer's attorneys argue that the painting, now in Spain, was taken unlawfully from his grandmother.

The Cassirer case focuses on the the same statute of limitations relied on by the Armenian Church in its dispute with The Getty, specifically Cal. Code. Civ. Proc. §338(c). Signed into law in 2010, the statute was primarily designed to allow lawsuits for the recovery of Nazi looted art by extending the time period that stolen art claims could be filed--from a six year statue of limitations to a statute of limitations that begins from the time of the actual discovery of the elements of a claim.  The federal district court struck down this statute in May 2012 because the law unconstitutionally intrudes upon the federal government’s exclusive power to conduct foreign affairs, according to the reasoning of the lower court.  The matter is on appeal in the Ninth Circuit.

Given that "the resolution of that appeal may determinethe outcome of this case," the Armenian Church and The Getty have agreed in writing to suspend their court proceedings so as "to avoid potentially unnecessary litigation efforts and expenses pending the outcome of that appeal."


This post is researched, written, and published on the blog Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire at culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Text copyrighted 2012 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

SLAM Litigants Move Toward Resolving Ka Nefer Nefer Mummy Mask Case

The St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM), the United States government, and the Republic of Egypt appear to be in discussions to settle the contest over title to the mummy mask of Ka Nefer Nefer. Last week the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri filed an unopposed motion with the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals asking for filing deadlines to be held in abeyance in the case. The court granted the motion.

The federal government's October 17 motion tells the court that "the parties believe that continued discussions will be productive and that there is a significant possibility that they will reach a resolution that would obviate the need for the appeal to continue."  The appeals court was notified that "the United States must consult further with the Solicitor General, the Department of State, and the government of the Republic of Egypt before it can propose or agree to any potential settlement terms."

U.S. Attorney Richard Callahan appealed the mummy forfeiture case in June after a federal district court denied the government's efforts to seize and forfeit the Ka Nefer Nefer mask from SLAM.  The federal government alleges that the mask was stolen from Egypt and is in the United States in violation of the law.  SLAM asserts that they are the rightful owners of the artifact.  SLAM filed a declaratory action in February 2011 to gain quiet title to the mask followed by the U.S. Attorney's petition for forfeiture in March 2011.


This post is researched, written, and published on the blog Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire at culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Text copyrighted 2012 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

Same Song, Umpteenth Verse - No Discrimination, Retaliation Worth $2 Million

This time it was Ithaca police officer Chris Miller who lost his claim that Ithaca discriminated against him and other non-minority officers in favor of minority policemen.  That complaint did not fly with the jury, but his allegation that he was retaliated against for making it did, two million dollars worth.  City to pay $2 million in discrimination case.

As always there is a lot more to this case than is covered in the brief article reporting on the jury's verdict. The Cornell Daily Sun did a four part story on the background of Miller's claim and the assertions made by him, some of which were excluded by the trial court. See part one and two here, and part three and four here.

Appeals Court Sides with Federal Attorneys in ACCG Baltimore Coin Case

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals today sided with the United States in the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG) Baltimore test case.   We "have reviewed the Guild's various claims and find them to be without merit," the judges wrote in their October 22 decision.

The court's unanimous decision in the case of Ancient Coin Collectors Guild v. U.S. Customs and Border Protection; U.S. Department of State; Assistant Secretary of State, Educational and Cultural Affairs, rejected the invitation to "engage in a searching review of the government's implementation of CPIA import restrictions on Chinese and Cypriot cultural property."  The judges exercised restraint, cautioning that "[a]ccepting such an invitation ... would draw the judicial system too heavily and intimately into negotiations between the Department of State and foreign countries, injecting the courts into an area of law covered by statutorily conferred executive discretion and congressional oversight."  The court added that "[s]uch judicial interference would be especially problematic because Congress has already prescribed civil forfeiture as a vehicle through which importers can challenge the seizure and detention of articles allegedly covered by CPIA restrictions."

The ACCG initiated the court action in order to challenge the federal government's application of the Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA). The CPIA is the law that implements the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.  The ACCG imported ancient coins from a London dealer in 2009, transporting them to Baltimore, Maryland on a British Airways flight.  The coins were minted in China and Cyprus, but they had no provenance and no description of their find spots. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detained the coins, sanctioned by the import restrictions placed on Chinese and Cypriot ancient coins.  The import restrictions were enacted pursuant to bilateral agreements negotiated between those countries and the United States under the authority of the CPIA.

The ACCG filed a civil action in federal district court attacking the import controls over ancient coins and lost.  It appealed the decision, and both the government and ACCG filed briefs before making oral arguments on September 19, 2012.  The court of appeals issued its written decision today.

While agreeing with the idea that "[c]oins are portable objects," the appeals court remarked "that is not the whole story." "The often worn and mysterious beauty of ancient coins renders them invaluable cultural artifacts, helpful not only in dating archaeological finds but in revealing how distant civilizations once conducted their civic and commercial life. Whether coins (or sculptures or pottery) should be exempted from coverage as cultural property presents a lively policy debate, but the tension is resolved for us through the medium of law."

In its decision, the appeals court provided a primer on the law supporting the CPIA regime and highlighted that the judiciary should only reluctantly insert itself in diplomatic negotiations or congressional action:

"Congress set out an elaborate statutory scheme for promulgating import restrictions on culturally sensitive items and gave the Executive Branch broad discretion in negotiating Article 9 [bilateral] agreements with foreign states. Congress itself retained oversight of the CPIA process ... and placed significant responsibility in the hands of CPAC [the Cultural Property Advisory Committee], a body composed of experts in the fields of archaeology and ethnology. Congress also provided forfeiture procedures through which importers could challenge any seizures made pursuant to the CPIA. The conclusions to be drawn from the entirety of this statutory scheme are clear. The federal judiciary has not been generally empowered to second-guess the Executive Branch in its negotiations with other nations over matters of great importance to their cultural heritage, to overrule CPAC in its conclusion that import restrictions on coins were necessary to protect the cultural patrimonies of Cyprus and China, or to challenge Congress in its decision to channel CPIA disputes through forfeiture proceedings."

The ACCG argued that the import restrictions placed on Chinese and Cypriot  ancient coins as well as their execution by the government were ultra vires (extralegal).  The coin collectors group also asserted that the government violated the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) and that it transgressed the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.  The appellate court rejected each of these assertions.

The court of appeals, like the federal district court below, found that the conduct of the government had not been been ultra vires or extralegal as the ACCG had alleged.  Citing established case law, the court explained that the government only acts outside in an extra legal fashion when it "'is not doing the business which the sovereign has empowered him to do or he is doing it in a way which the sovereign has forbidden.'" (Citation omitted).  The court emphasized that it would not probe the foreign relations functions of the executive and congressional branches of government, writing:

"The [CPIA] statute . . . involves a sensitive area of foreign affairs where Congress itself has delegated the Executive Branch significant discretion.  Given that approach, a searching substantive review of the State Department's diplomatic negotiations or CPAC's application of its archaeological expertise would be singularly inappropriate in this forum."

The federal appeals court pointed to specific examples of how authorities followed the CPIA appropriately with regard to Chinese import restrictions, and the fourth circuit sided with the lower federal district court by repeating  that the State Department "complied with the statutory requirements in placing import restrictions on Cypriot coins."

Despite compliance with the CPIA, the fourth circuit judges considered the ACCG's allegation that China did not make a request for bilateral protection of ancient coins--an assertion disputed by the government. The court looked beyond this charge, writing "In making this argument ... the Guild seeks to add a provision to the statute that is simply not there, namely a requirement that a request ... 'include a detailed accounting of every item eventually covered by an ... agreement.'"  (Citation omitted). The court made clear that a request by a foreign government for U.S. protection of cultural property under the CPIA "need not include a comprehensive list" of every archaoelogical and ethnological object included in a final bilateral agreement. To say otherwise, the court wrote, is a burden that "Congress nowhere mentioned ...."

By the same rationale, the appeals court rejected any contention that the State Department was required to publish in advance a detailed list of every cultural object that might have been considered for import protections under the CPIA. "To scrutinize the adequacy of the State Department's publication and require a verbatim publication of a foreign request would involve the judiciary in the very early stages of the CPIA process and place upon the State Department a burden that Congress did not intend," the court wrote.  The appeals court judges observed that the "detail required by the statute at the conclusion of the process is altogether different from the level of detail required before negotiations between our country and another nation have even so much as begun," making note that "Congress sought to strike a balance here between the need for notice and transparency on the one hand, and the need for confidentiality in sensitive matters of diplomacy on the other."

The court addressed the ACCG's further complaint "that State and CBP acted ultra vires by placing import restrictions on all coins of certain types without demonstrating that all coins of those types were 'first discovered within' China or Cyprus."  The court disagreed by explaining that "State and CBP are under no obligation to list restricted items with more specificity than the statute commands, and they are certainly not required to impose restrictions on a coin-by-coin basis. Such a requirement would make the statutory scheme utterly unworkable in practice."

The circuit court acknowledged that there will be cultural objects imported into the U.S. without provenance or export permits, but that there is a process that allows importers to show that the objects are legal: "In those cases, the statute expressly provides that CBP may seize the articles at the border: 'If the [importer] of any designated archaeological or ethnological material is unable to present to the customs officer' the required documentation, the 'officer concerned shall refuse to release the material from customs custody . . . until such documentation or evidence is filed with such officer.' 19 U.S.C. § 2606(b). In short, CBP need not demonstrate that the articles are restricted; rather, the statute 'expressly places the burden on importers to prove that they are importable.'" (Citation omitted).

The court implied that the burden of proof imposed on importers by the CPIA is not as high as might be suggested because "[t]he importer need not document every movement of its articles since ancient times. It need demonstrate only that the articles left the country that has requested import restrictions before those restrictions went into effect or more than ten years before the date of import."  The court commented that "the Guild need not have documented every movement of its coins since ancient times. To comply with § 2606 [of the CPIA], the Guild need demonstrate only that the Cypriot coins left Cyprus prior to 2007 and that the Chinese coins left China prior to 2009. It never so much as attempted to do so."

Attending to the ACCG's argument that the Administrative Procedures Act was violated, the court rejected this claim.  "We have emphasized throughout the restricted scope of judicial review when it comes to the statutory discretion Congress has conferred upon the Executive Branch in carrying out the international obligations of the United Sates under the Convention. These cautions are nowhere more pertinent than where this nation's protection and recognition of another's cultural patrimony is involved. Congress recognized that the CPIA 'is important to our foreign relations, including our international cultural relations,' and it enacted the statute to ensure that the United States did not become an illegal market for foreign cultural property, a development that would have 'severely strain[ed] our relations with the countries of origin, which often include close allies.' S. Rep. 97-564, at 23 (1982)."  The court added, "Even were we to assume that State was fully subject to the APA, none of its actions were remotely arbitrary or capricious."  The court concluded that CBP acted appropriately as well.

The appeals court also took up the constitutional issues raised by the ACCG.  It relied on the district court's conclusion, in part, that "'the government's interest in combating the pillage of archaeological materials is unrelated to the suppression of free expression.'"  Moreover, due process claims would be addressed by forfeiture proceedings where the government would be required to outline its arguments supporting the seizure of the imported cultural objects, and where the "Guild must then demonstrate that its coins are not subject to forfeiture in order to prevail."

UPDATE 11/14/12: The ACCG filed a petition on November 13, 2012 for rehearing en banc in the matter.  A rehearing before the full court of appeals (en banc) is usually rejected unless the case is of great significance.


This post is researched, written, and published on the blog Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire at culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Text copyrighted 2012 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

Art Theft: Paintings Stolen from Kunsthal Museum

Thieves nabbed seven paintings from the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam, The Netherlands sometime during the night of October 15/16, 2012.

Dutch police, in a press release, are asking the following:  "The investigators are making a particular appeal to the visitors to the Kunsthal. Did you visit the Kunsthal last week and did you see or hear anything unusual while you were there? Did you take any photos or video pictures? If so you should contact the police on 0900-8844. If you would prefer to speak to the Criminal Information Unit call 079-3458999. We would also like to speak to you if you saw any suspicious vehicles or persons in the vicinity of the Kunsthal in the period immediately leading up to the art theft."

Anyone with information about the crime or the missing artworks listed below should contact police at the telephone numbers above or contact INTERPOL here.

Art Stolen from Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam 

 Claude Monet: “Waterloo Bridge, London” (1901) 


 Meyer de Haan: “Self Portrait”  (1889 – ’91) 


Lucian Freud: “Woman with Eyes Closed” (2002)


 Claude Monet: “Charing Cross Bridge, London” (1901)


 Paul Gauguin: “Reading Girl in White and Yellow” (1919) 


 Paul Gauguin: “Girl in Front of Open Window” (1988) 


 Pablo Picasso: “Harlequin Head” (1971)


Images courtesy of INTERPOL


This post is researched, written, and published on the blog Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire at culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Text copyrighted 2012 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

Cycling on Dual Carriageways - An Open Letter to The Times

I wrote to the Times yesterday in response to the letter from HHJ Tonking that they printed last week about banning cyclists from dual carriageways where the speed limit is more than 30, or possibly 40, mph.  There is no sign that The Times is interested in printing my response.  They used to print stuff from me but that is before I morphed from a lawyer to a cycling-nut.



Sir,

In recent times cycling in this country has enjoyed massive highs with a summer of almost incredible sporting success but also tragic lows when individual cyclists (like Rob Jefferies of British Cycling and Mary Bowers of The Times) have been killed or have sustained quite devastating injury.  Like The Times’s campaign to make our cities fit for cycling, British Cycling’s campaign for justice for the victims of traffic collisions is soon to be debated at Westminster.  How telling that His Honour Judge Tonking’s (letters 03.10.12) response is a call to ban cyclists from many of Britain’s roads.  Cyclists historically were huge supporters of the construction of motorways, hoping that this would civilise the non-motorway network.  Many roads that by-pass existing provision (Baldock by-pass, Hindhead tunnel, Hammersmith Flyover to name but a few that spring to mind) are not open to cyclists.  Mr Tonking’s suggested blanket ban would cover many roads that form a cyclist’s most convenient direct and fast route from where she is to where she wishes to be.
Mr Tonking sits in the Crown Court and therefore deals with the most serious cases.  Sitting at the pinnacle of the state’s post collision response, he has the power conferred by Parliament to ban the worst drivers from our roads for substantial, even life-long, periods.  His language of ‘accidents’ and of ‘a moment’s inattention’ and his focus on cyclists using ‘dangerous trunk roads’ and to high visibility clothing typifies the exculpation of those responsible for, and the blaming of the victims of, bad driving.  It is a demonstration of how deeply the car culture is ingrained in our criminal justice system.
Cycling is both a leisure activity and a viable and responsible means of transport.  Cyclists will be attracted to roads that enable them to cover distance swiftly and efficiently without numerous stops and junctions.  Dual carriageways make passing slower vehicles easier and have sight lines which render  talk of momentary inattention, at any legal speed, wholly inappropriate.  By all means make better provision for cyclists so that they can reach their destination at the same speed on better infrastructure but let us not stifle cycling by withdrawing the existing facilities.
Happily Mr Tonking does not have the power to make the law.  He does though have the duty to enforce it and this is where his contribution to the safety of cyclists on our roads should lie.
Yours faithfully,
Martin Porter QC

Paleo-Prospector Thief Guilty of Conspiracy to Steal Government Property

A federal district court in Alaska has sentenced  Equinox Wilderness Expeditions (EWE) owner Karen Ann Jettmar to three years probation and a $30,000 fine for unlawfully taking a prehistoric fossil bone from federal land. Jettmar pleaded guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to commit theft of government property under 18 USC 371 and 641.  She was originally charged by a grand jury in December 2011 with felony counts of conspiracy and removing a paleontological resource from federal land.

In June 2009, U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) agents began an undercover investigation into EWE and Jettmar.  The federal agency uncovered evidence of illegal "paleo-prospecting," according to the plea agreement filed with the court.  A woolly mammoth tusk recovered during a 2007 Kokolik River expedition and a fossil bone recovered from the Uukok River in 2009 were among the illegal items identified. Both artifacts were taken from the protected National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.  An October 2007 email from Jettmar to an EWE client remarked, "Good thing your tusk is safe in Pennsylvania. ... wouldn't want BLM coming after you!"

Judge Ralph Beistline accepted the plea agreement between Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Cooper and the defense, which included the following terms:

"The defendant shall modify and maintain her Equinox Wilderness Expeditions website, advertising, and other business communications, to ensure that they do not contain any writing, graphics, or other material encouraging or designed to encourage the expectation of collecting natural objects or objects of archeological, paleontological, cultural, historic, or scientific interest on the lands or waters visited; to add the following warning: 'It is illegal on all State and federal public lands and on all privately-owned lands to remove without a permit or authorization any natural objects or objects of archeological, paleontological, cultural, historic, or scientific interest'; and to remove and refrain from stating on the website, advertising, or other business communications, any representation that Equinox Wilderness Expeditions has the permits required for collecting such objects."

"The defendant shall not conduct or participate in or be present with any commercial activity on State or Federal public lands except those conservation units for which, before entering, she obtains and holds permits for activities booked for the 2012 summer season through the time of completion of those activities in the summer of 2012."

Alaskan state statutes also protect cultural resources in addition to federal law.   The law of "The Last Frontier" that preserves history and archaeology can be found here.


This post is researched, written, and published on the blog Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire at culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Text copyrighted 2012 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

Legal Update - R v Fields


The Evening Gazette of Teeside reports that last week John Fields was 'spared jail' at Teesside Crown Court where he was sentenced for causing the death of Andrew Hutton by careless driving.  Mr Hutton had been riding his bicycle westbound along the A174 dual carriageway road, near Eston in Teeside.  Mr Fields was not only spared jail but also spared any driving ban beyond the one year minimum that Parliament has mandated for this offence.

The circumstances of the offence seem to demonstrate a very high degree of carelessness on the part of Mr Fields.  Andrew Hutton was there in front of Mr Fields' van for at least 11 seconds (if you do not think that is a long time count it out loud).  Instead of seeing and avoiding Mr Hutton, Mr Fields drove his van over the rumble strip at the side of the road before striking him at 60mph.  His best explanation was reported to be 'He just came out of nowhere..I just heard a loud bang'.  I do not know precisely where the collision occurred but this Googleearth picture of the A174 westbound serves to give a general impression of the layout.

Invariably when I am subjected to a close pass on this type of road the miscreant has seen me only too well and implies that I should not be on the road at all.  In short, they do not respond to my presence because they do not care sufficiently.  Perhaps it is possible to care so little that you just do not see.  Other explanations would be a matter of speculation which of course the prosecution would seldom, if ever, be able to prove against the driver who says he did not see.  This all points towards the need for some deterrence if the safety of cyclists is to be improved.  Prevention is also furthered by removing the very worst, least attentive drivers from the roads for a long time.

I have previously expressed my support for British Cycling's call for a review of sentencing guidelines.  These guidelines have very little to say about the appropriate period of disqualification saying only that the minimum should be one year or the period of custody (whichever is greater).

I am equipped only with the facts reported in the newspapers but on those facts it is very difficult to see why this driving was any less culpable than that of Katie Hart who was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and sentenced to prison.  Why the CPS chose not to pursue a case of dangerous driving against Field is not clear from the reports.  How the standard of driving could be thought to be anything other than 'not far short of dangerous driving' (the top tier in the guidelines) puzzles me.  Certainly it was not momentary inattention (the bottom tier) but seems to have been regarded as middle tier (none of the above).  Mr Fields appears to have been very fortunate in the prosecuting decision and in the application of the existing guidelines.

The personal mitigation (ie relating to the offender rather than the offence) seems to have been powerful and swayed the Judge against the custodial sentence that the Guidelines rather suggest.

This is not unusual, after 9 months, my analysis of careless driving cases is starting to demonstrate how rare immediate custodial sentences are for motorists who kill cyclists.  Many cyclists would not take issue so much with the leniency over prison (though I rather incline to the view that some serious deterrence is required for the small minority of motorists who most endanger us).  However, if there is to be such leniency, it is a pity it is not accompanied by the simple expedient of withdrawing licences for substantial periods from drivers who have demonstrated themselves to be hopelessly incompetent.

Invariably Parliament leads and police, CPS, sentencing councils and courts struggle to keep up.  Perhaps it is time now for Parliament to mandate a minimum driving ban for causing death by careless driving of 5 years and for causing death by dangerous driving of 10 years.  Enforcement of driving bans would need to be improved but with modern technology this should be possible and could even be self financing if every car driven by a banned driver was seised and auctioned.  Some radical action is required to remove the least safe drivers from our roads.

As a footnote this is not an easy type of road to negotiate.  Sadly there is no safety in riding at the edge of the carriageway even if there is a rumble strip to protect you (for the same reason that you should always get out of a car that is broken down on a hard shoulder).  I would ride well out into the nearside lane, around 1.5m right of the rumble strip.  Not for everyone I appreciate but at least your presence is very likely to be noted and you have some room to move into to your nearside.  This is the sort of road where high quality segregated infrastructure for cyclists is badly needed.  See if you can spot the inadequacies of the provision alongside the eastbound carriageway of the same A174.





End of the Road for Gross v. FBL Financial Services

Actually that's a misleading headline, what it should say is the end of the line for Jack Gross, the ill fated plaintiff whose lawsuit became the vehicle for the Supreme Court's 2009 decision, which held that the ADEA, unlike Title VII, never permits a mixed motive analysis instead requiring a "but for" test.

Ironically, the well traveled case, which started with a 2003 reassignment Mr. Gross felt was to a lower position, was finally decided on the question which many had hoped the Supreme Court would address -- how do you determine when you get a mixed motive instruction?  In an unpublished opinion affirming a jury verdict in favor of Gross's former employer, the 8th Circuit held that it is a question for the Court, to be determined after all the evidence is presented. Not too surprisngly given the difficulty courts have had applying mixed motive, the Court failed to tell us on what basis it is to be determined. 

I had to smile because one of the cases relied on by the 8th Circuit was Smith v. Xerox Corp, a 2010 decision from the 5th Circuit that has been criticized not only by me, see 5th Circuit En Banc Request on Smith v. Xerox, Please! but also by four members of the 5th Circuit, see Stirrings on Smith v. Xerox in 5th Circuit Internecine Squabble.


Although as expected, the initial Gross decision did result in some legislative stirrings, fortunately none passed. Three years ago next week, I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in opposition to such proposed legislation. I wish I could say it was my brilliant thoughts (you can judge for yourself here ,about 51:30 into the hearing) that forestalled such legislation, but I have my doubts.   But last Friday's decision, as well as Smith v. Xerox, illustrate the point I made to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Mixed motive, created when discrimination cases were tried to the court, has not fared well in the world of jury trials. I testified then, and still believe, it is both complex and unneeded, and what should be done is to jettison it from all of employment law, not just ADEA claims, where fortunately,  it has been. 

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