United States v. Davis

GERARD E. LYNCH, Circuit Judge:

This case involves two parties, both asserting legitimate claims to the same indivisible piece of property. In 1985, claimant-appellant Sharyl R. Davis purchased the Camille Pissarro monotype Le Marché for its fair market value, unaware that it had recently been stolen from a French museum. More than twenty years later, Le Marché’s true provenance came to light, and the United States government brought this forfeiture action with the intent of returning the monotype to France. Unlike in the Judgment of Solomon, see 1 Kings 3:16-28, neither party has blinked, and…