In a victory for Cuba, a US judge has dismissed two separate lawsuits filed against European cruise lines headquartered in Miami. Florida federal court judge Beth Bloom dismissed the claims on 3 and 7 January with prejudice, meaning that the plaintiff cannot take further legal action on similar grounds. The firms accused were MSC Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which operate journeys stopping in Cuban ports.
The plaintiff, Mickael Behn, claims to be the rightful owner of Havana Docks Corporation. Behn’s grandfather was the owner of the Delaware-based firm. The suit used the 1996 US piece of legislation, the Helms-Burton Act Title III, which argues that the nationalisations carried out by Cuba’s revolutionary government are illegitimate. Under Title III, US citizens can file claims against individuals and entities, including those in third countries, who benefit from such nationalised property. MSC and Norwegian were accused of trafficking and illegal travel.
While the Helms-Burton Act was passed in 1996, Title III was suspended by US presidents every six months after negotiations with Canada and the EU, which have significant investments in Cuba. In 2019, President Trump allowed the suspension to expire, so as to further tighten the blockade on Cuba, with lawsuits appearing promptly. Behn filed his lawsuit on the day the suspension was lifted.
The Florida court heard that Havana Docks Corporation had a claim on the port terminal used by the cruise liners, but the corporation’s 75-year contract with Cuba’s pre-revolutionary Machado government expired in 2004. MSC and Norwegian cruises only started docking in Havana 13 years later in 2017, which, Bloom ruled, invalidated the lawsuits.
Other lawsuits under Title III are still ongoing. US fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil is demanding $280m from two Cuban state-owned oil enterprises. Jose Ramon Lopez Regueiro, the son of Havana Airport’s former owner, is suing American Airlines and LATAM Airlines. The attorney handling Lopez Regueiro’s lawsuit, Rivero Mestre, said ‘what we seek to recover is the value of the airport times three.’ Given his estimates, the compensation would be $3bn. Mestre sent letters to the more than 50 airlines operating at the airport to notify them of Regueiro’s intent to sue. Spanish hotel chains Melia and Barcelo, as Canadian hotel company Blue Diamond, are also being sued.
The US Foreign Claims Settlement Commission evaluated the validity of 8,826 claims for losses resulting from the expropriation and nationalisation of property once owned by US nationals. It regarded 5,915 claims to be compensable for a total value of $1.9 billion, but only about 20 lawsuits have been filed since Title III came into effect. Many firms trading with Cuba are protected from litigation by blocking statutes in the EU, Britain and Canada. The decisions against Havana Docks Corporation could become a further deterrent for filing lawsuits under Title III.
Elias Haddad
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! No 274, February/March 2020
