As War on Cuba Escalates, Companies Settle Lawsuits

Title III defendants are dropping like flies.

American Airlines and Spanish hotel chain Iberostar are the latest corporations to settle lawsuits filed under Title III of the Helms Burton Act, a controversial provision that had been suspended by every U.S. president for over two decades until Trump activated it in 2019. 

Title III allows U.S. claimants whose property was nationalized after the 1959 Cuban Revolution to sue companies for doing business on that property. Read our in-depth article about how Florida hardliners got Title III implemented to crush investment in Cuba.

Title III plaintiff. Last year, a federal jury in Miami found Expedia liable for nearly $30 million in damages to Cuban-American Mario Echevarría, who claimed his family owned the small island of Cayo Coco off northern Cuba, where Expedia, Hotels.com and Orbitz booked hotel stays. 

Although the judge later took the unusual step of overturning the verdict and entering judgment for Expedia, the jury decision may have spooked other Title III defendants.

Jacksonville-based Crowley Maritime settled claims last February over its use of Cuba’s Port of Mariel. The U.S. branch of French shipping company CMA CGM followed in November, with Seaboard Marine of Miami settling earlier this January.