By Andrew Rice | The Center Square
(Worthy News) – The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 8-1 decision on Thursday, allowed U.S. companies to seek damages from property seizures by the Cuban government.
Justices decided Havana Docks Corporation v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, a case that focused on property seizures following the Cuba’s communist revolution. The Cuban government took over Havana Docks, a U.S. company, in 1960.
However, between 2016 and 2019, three cruise lines were allowed to use the docks to transport passengers. Havana Docks sued the cruise lines for “trafficking” goods.
Justices on the high court allowed a $440 million settlement against the cruise lines to continue.
Justices on the high court focused on the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, a 1996 law that sought to deter trafficking property that the Cuban government seized after it’s communist takeover. Justice Clarence Thomas said U.S. ownership of Havana Docks meant it could sue for improper use.
“The Act generally makes those who use property tainted by a past confiscation liable to any United States national who owns a claim to that property,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the court’s majority opinion.
Lawyers for the cruise lines argued that Havana Docks license of the port was set to expire in 2004, regardless of the communist takeover. The majority opinion sharply disagreed with this understanding.
“We conclude that the cruise lines used confiscated property to which Havana Docks owns the claim,” Thomas wrote.
Justice Elena Kagan, the lone dissenter, said the high court misunderstood the purpose of the law. She said the Cuban government, not Havana Docks, owned the property fully after 2004.
Kagan said Havana Docks could not be entitled to compensation from the cruise lines because its ownership ended in 2004, years before the cruise lines used the dock in 2016. She said the entity could only be eligible to receive interest in the property, not compensation.
“Where the ‘property’ confiscated from the plaintiff is a physical thing, liability can attach for trafficking in that thing,” Kagan wrote. “It does not mean that where the ‘property’ confiscated from the plaintiff is an intangible interest, liability can attach for trafficking in something other than that interest—that is, in the underlying physical thing.”
The high court also heard arguments in a separate case about Cuban land claims, Exxon Mobil v. Corporacion Cimex. The court has yet to decide that case, involving Exxon’s ownership of land in Cuba before the communist takeover.
This case will likely draw several more lawsuits over U.S. ownership in Cuban lands confiscated by the government.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Israel expanded its military campaign against Hezbollah on Monday, striking more than 70 targets across Lebanon as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to increase pressure on the Iranian-backed terror group following a sharp rise in drone and rocket attacks on northern Israel.
A federal appeals court is weighing whether Kansas City can use its public accommodation ordinance to require Christian counselors to counsel gay married couples despite the counselors’ biblical convictions on marriage and sexuality.
Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians gathered in the Netherlands for one of Europe’s largest multi-day Christian events, with organizers and participants expressing hopes for spiritual revival in the nation and across Europe.
President Donald Trump pushed back Monday against sharp criticism from Republicans and former administration officials over a potential U.S.-Iran agreement, insisting that any final accord must prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon or it will not be signed.
President Donald Trump said Monday that countries involved in negotiations over Iran should be required to join the Abraham Accords, signaling that the White House is seeking to turn a possible Iran agreement into a wider regional realignment that includes normalization with Israel.
Tensions remained high in Serbia’s capital Belgrade on Sunday after at least tens of thousands of people demanded elections and rallied against what they view as the increasingly authoritarian rule of President Aleksandar Vučić, with violence erupting after the protest and more than 20 people arrested.
Investigations were ongoing Sunday into the killing of three senior Kuki-Thadou Christian church leaders by unidentified gunmen in India’s northeastern Manipur State, Christian investigators told Worthy News.