Overview
- The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas on Thursday, reversed the 11th Circuit and allowed Havana Docks Corporation’s Helms-Burton trafficking claims against four cruise companies to proceed.
- A federal judge in 2022 had found the cruise lines liable and entered roughly $440 million in combined judgments, but the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later set those judgments aside before the Supreme Court revived the case.
- Havana Docks says it built and operated Havana’s piers under a long-term concession before the 1959 seizure and alleges the cruise lines ‘trafficked’ in that confiscated property when they docked in Havana during the 2015–2019 reopening.
- Justice Elena Kagan dissented, arguing Havana Docks held only a time-limited concession that expired in 2004 and therefore the cruise lines’ later use did not amount to trafficking.
- The ruling arrives one day after the Justice Department indicted former Cuban leader Raúl Castro and could increase legal and political pressure on firms that did business in Cuba, with possible ripple effects for other Helms-Burton cases and U.S. Cuba policy.