Norwegian Cruise Line to pay 110 million for visiting Cuba
2022.12.31 01:50
Norwegian Cruise Line to pay 110 million for visiting Cuba
Budrigannews.com – Norwegian Voyage Line (NYSE:) A U.S. judge ruled on Friday that Cuba must pay $110 million in damages for using a port that the Cuban government confiscated in 1960. This was a significant victory for Cuban-Americans seeking compensation for Cold War asset seizures.
“Judgment is entered in favor of Plaintiff Havana Docks Corporation and against Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd,” reads the decision made by U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami following her March ruling that the use of the Havana Cruise Port Terminal constituted trafficking in confiscated property owned by the plaintiff, Delaware-registered Havana Docks Corp.
It states, “Plaintiff is awarded $109,848,747.87 in damages,” and that Norwegian should also pay an additional $3 million in legal fees and expenses.
Norwegian Voyage Line didn’t quickly answer a solicitation for input.
The Helms-Burton Act has been harshly criticized by Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who described it as an extra-territorial violation of international law.
Additionally, Havana Docks had sued Carnival (NYSE:), a cruise line. NYSE: Royal Caribbean and MSC under the Helms-Burton Act, which gives Americans the right to sue over how to use property that was taken from them in Cuba after 1959.
The ruling may encourage additional lawsuits filed by Cuban exiles claiming $2 billion in damages for asset seizures under the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Additionally, it may serve as a reminder to multinational corporations of the difficulties associated with conducting business in Cuba.
Following a detente that was negotiated by former President Barack Obama and eased some provisions of a U.S. embargo that had been in place since the Cold War, cruise ships from the United States began traveling to Cuba in 2016 for the first time in decades.
However, as part of efforts to exert pressure on Cuba regarding its support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, an ideological adversary of Washington, the Trump administration in 2019 ordered a halt to all cruises of this kind.
A provision of the Helms-Burton Act that had been waived by every previous president since the law’s passage in 1996 was granted to the Trump administration to allow U.S. citizens to sue third parties for using property seized by Cuban authorities.
Havana Docks claims that Cuba never received compensation for taking over the property, despite the fact that Cuba is subject to a decades-old U.S. trade embargo.
In 2019, it filed a lawsuit against the four cruise lines in the Southern District of Florida United States District Court. Blossom in Spring expected that the organizations were to take responsibility for harms under the Rudders Burton Act, otherwise called the Libertad Act.
The 5,913 certified claims for property seized in Cuba represent nearly $2 billion in liability, according to the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, a non-profit that provides information on relations between the two countries.
According to the organization, Title III of the Helms-Burton Act has been the subject of forty-four lawsuits.
The group’s president, John Kavulich, stated, “The decision will give those current plaintiffs of Cuban descent a moment of satisfaction.” Kavulich stated, “It’ll give them a moment to say, ‘You can run, but you can’t hide.'”
More Venezuelan government may have a negative impact on Citgo
