On June 30, the US Supreme Court ruled 6-3, allowing ExxonMobil to sue Cuban state-owned companies in US courts over assets seized after Fidel Castro came to power. This marks the second time in two months the court has ruled in favor of American owners of property expropriated by Cuba's communist government more than 65 years ago.
The outcomes of these two cases could become additional leverage for President Donald Trump's administration to increase pressure on Cuba, which is already under strain from the US oil embargo.
At the heart of the issue is whether the 1996 Helms-Burton Act removes the sovereign immunity that would ordinarily shield foreign states and their state-owned enterprises from lawsuits in US courts. The justices overturned a lower court ruling that had found Cuban state-owned companies immune from such suits.
The Supreme Court held that a legal protection known as foreign sovereign immunity, which typically blocks US lawsuits against foreign governments and their agencies, does not apply in cases like ExxonMobil's suit against Cuban state enterprise Corporacion CIMEX.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the majority, said the 30-year-old federal law eliminated "the sovereign immunity of Cuban agencies and instrumentalities." He wrote: "The Helms-Burton Act authorizes private suits against Cuban agencies and instrumentalities—suits that would largely be impossible to bring if they were subject to the requirements of the FSIA," referring to the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
The court's six conservative justices formed the majority. Justice Elena Kagan wrote a dissent joined by the court's two other liberals. Kagan argued that plaintiffs must show their suits fall under an exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, saying "nothing in the Helms-Burton Act’s text or 'structure' indicates that Congress abrogated these defendants’ sovereign immunity—let alone that it did so with the unmistakable clarity required."
ExxonMobil is seeking compensation for the seizure of assets owned by subsidiaries of Standard Oil, ExxonMobil's predecessor, including more than 100 gas stations and an oil refinery. The US Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, an arm of the Justice Department, determined in 1969 that ExxonMobil's Cuban assets were worth $71.6 million, plus 6% annual interest from 1960. That amount now stands at roughly $3 billion, not including potential treble damages.
Last month, the court also ruled in another case involving seized Cuban assets, reviving a claim by a US company that operated a Havana dock against four cruise lines that brought passengers to Cuba during the brief thaw under former President Barack Obama. That case involved the same section of the Helms-Burton Act enabling suits over confiscated property.
Congress passed the Helms-Burton Act in response to Cuba's 1996 shootdown of civilian aircraft flown by Miami-based exiles. Title III of the law allows Americans to sue most companies trafficking in or benefiting from property seized by the Cuban government. Before Trump's first term, every president had suspended that provision due to objections from US allies doing business in Cuba and concerns about derailing future US-Cuba negotiations. Trump lifted the suspension in 2019, and ExxonMobil filed its suit against CIMEX the same day.
Additionally, the claims commission says nearly 6,000 individuals and businesses hold certified claims valued at $1.9 billion, before adding interest or damages.
