Viewing page 90 of 242

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

-78-

3.  [[underlined]]Gleicher[[/underlined]] v. [[underlined]]John Davis and Smithsonian Institute[[/underlined]] (sic)

  This suit, filed in the D. C. Superior Court in March 1982 and seeking $100,000 for violation of plaintiff's civil rights as a result of an allegedly improper removal of plaintiff from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum by museum security forces, was dismissed by the D. C. Superior Court on June 10, 1982, for lack of jurisdiction and for failure of plaintiff to exhaust his administrative remedies.

4.  [[underlined]]In Re Estate of Therese Davis McCagg[[/underlined]]

  Petitioner in this action (a Rhode Island bank which has been appointed administrator of this estate) sought to reclaim two paintings lent by the decedent to the National Museum of American Art (then known as the National Gallery of Art) in 1917.  The lender died in 1932, leaving no instructions in her will or otherwise with regard to the paintings, and the Museum was never contacted.  In 1980 the Probate Division of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia issued letters of administration to reopen the estate after a lapse of some fifty years when the paintings came to the attention of certain heirs.  On February 9, 1981, the Museum was ordered to show cause why these paintings should not be turned over to the administrator.  The Museum contended that the statute of limitations had run.  Following a hearing that had been held on May 13, 1981, the Probate Division of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, on May 28, 1981, ordered the Museum to surrender the paintings.  The Museum appealed, and oral arguments on the appeal were heard on April 21, 1982.  The District of Columbia Court of Appeals, on August 12, 1982, affirmed the decision below, holding that, in the circumstances of this loan for an indefinite period, the Museum should have made "reasonably diligent, bona fide efforts to locate Mrs. McCagg or her successors," follow by "constructive notice by publication," before the statute of limitations "would begin to tun on a cause of action for return of the paintings."  After consultation with the Department of Justice, it was decided not to seek rehearing and that a further appeal would not likely be successful.