June 10, 1999

HOUSTON (AP) -- A family of Russian descent seeking return of property seized after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution won a $234 million judgment against Russia.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner awarded the damages Tuesday after Russia failed to defend itself.

Lee Magness' claim was based on his family's vast holdings in St. Petersburg, Russia, including a piano factory, a shopping center and a mansion. All were absorbed by the communists after the 1917 revolution.

After the fall of communism, the Russian government prohibited the nationalization or expropriation of foreign investments, prompting the plaintiffs to travel to St. Petersburg in 1994 to reclaim the family fortune once owned by Magness' maternal grandfather, Ivan Karlovitch Schroder.

"For whatever reason, the Russian Federation and Ministry of Culture claimed the property was not (the Magness')," family attorney Daniel B. Nelson. "The expropriation we're really suing over occurred in 1994."

The government claimed the Schroder properties, including two expensive vintage pianos Magness tried to buy when he was there, were national treasures, the lawsuit stated.

In an attempt to get the Russians to take notice, the Magness family sued here in 1997 to get the court to prevent a $100 million Romanov jewel exhibit from leaving Houston. The family wanted the exhibit held as collateral for its alleged debt.

Russia objected, then stopped defending itself once the tour moved on to San Diego. Hittner issued a default judgment Nov. 20 after hearing evidence only from the plaintiffs.

Russian Embassy spokesman Mikhail A. Shurgalin and the Russian Federation's attorney on the case, Tim Dickinson, did not return calls by The Associated Press.