The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Exxon Mobil can sue the Cuban government over more than $1 billion in seized property.
The decision was 6-3 and split along ideological lines, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh said state-owned companies cannot claim sovereign immunity to block litigation over assets seized by Cuba's communist government.
The case turned on the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996, known as the Helms-Burton Act, which was passed by Congress after Cuba shot down two unarmed planes flown by humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue.
The law established the right of U.S. nationals to sue over property seized by the Cuban government, though every president until President Donald Trump waived that provision.
On the day President Donald Trump allowed lawsuits under the law in 2019, Exxon Mobil sued over property in Cuba including hundreds of gas stations, an oil refinery, depots and packaging plants; in lower courts Cuba argued the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act would protect the companies and both the district and circuit courts sided with Cuba before the Supreme Court reversed.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote, "It would make little sense for Congress to construct an elaborate statute authorizing suits against the Cuban government agencies and instrumentalities if, because of the FSIA, almost no suits could ever get through the courthouse door." He added, "After the President has allowed suits under the Act to go forward, there is no additional FSIA hurdle that a plaintiff must clear in order to sue Cuban agencies or instrumentalities. The Helms-Burton Act authorizes private suits against Cuban agencies and instrumentalities -- suits that would largely be nonstarters if subjected to the FSIA's requirements."
The court's three liberal justices dissented, and Justice Elena Kagan wrote, "Nothing in the text or 'architecture' of the Helms-Burton Act suggests that Congress abrogated the sovereign immunity of these defendants -- much less that it did so with the requisite unmistakable clarity." Last month the court ruled that cruise lines Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian and MSC can be held liable for using a port confiscated by the Cuban government.