Replevin is a pitfall to avoid at all costs from the very first moment it occurs. It begins with a phone call — from a law-enforcement officer or an attorney — claiming that something you own belongs to a state or federal archive, to another country, or to another person. The wise move is to involve your attorney immediately. Do not try to negotiate or argue it on your own behalf.
Stand your ground
You may never face replevin; it is rare. But if you do, take a defensive position at once and distance yourself without fanning the flames. Cultural-patrimony claims are often not well founded, and once a claimant discovers you have counsel and will not give up without a fight, they may well back down rather than face a long and expensive court battle.
It can cut the other way
Replevin can also work in your favor. Gary's friend Helen Marie Taylor of Meadow Brook Farm in Orange, Virginia, was robbed by her secretary's drug-addicted son, who stole her original 1788 Virginia Ratification of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights — exactly the kind of theft replevin law exists to reverse.
The money you spend on an attorney for that first phone call can save you tens of thousands later.
What the chapter covers
- Antiquities, pre-Columbian, and cultural-patrimony export claims
- Why counsel must come before any negotiation
- Repatriation demands that don't hold up — and how to answer them
- When replevin recovers what was stolen from you