The Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation, owner of a Pablo Picasso painting, can't be sued by a German collector who claimed the Nazis forced his relative to sell the work, a New York court said. The theater impresario's foundation, and auction house Christie's International, withdrew Picasso's $60 million portrait from sale a year ago after Julius Schoeps said it was forcibly sold by his great uncle, Berlin banker Paul von Mendelssohn- Bartholdy. The foundation said in court that Schoeps couldn't sue for restitution because he wasn't appointed to represent his relative's estate, and the judge agreed. "It is well established in New York that a person who has not obtained letters as personal representative lacks standing or the legal capacity to commence an action on behalf of an estate," said Supreme Court Justice Rolando T. Acosta, according to the copy of the ruling posted online yesterday. Christie's, the world's largest auction house, had valued the 1903 Picasso painting, "Portrait de Angel Fernandez de Soto," at $40 million to $60 million, promising the foundation a minimum price whether it sold or not. "We are pleased with the decision; however, it would be imprudent to speculate on the next steps until we have had time to review it more thoroughly," said Toby Usnik, a Christie's spokesman, when asked if the painting would now be auctioned. John Byrne, a lawyer for Schoeps, didn't immediately return a telephone message left before opening hours in Washington. The Lloyd Webber foundation couldn't immediately be reached for comment. The case was Schoeps vs. Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation, 116768/06.