Expedia Beats Cuba Lawsuit — But Cubans Pay the Price
A jury in a Delaware federal court has ruled in favor of Expedia Group, Inc. in a lawsuit over the tourism company’s bookings in Cuba.
The lawsuit stems from Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which allows U.S. claimants whose property was nationalized following the Cuban revolution to sue companies for doing business that involved those properties. The law was passed in 1996, but Title III was activated for the first time by Trump in 2019.
The Delaware Court had ordered a jury trial to ascertain the ownership of the claim by the plaintiff, Central Santa Lucía, L.C. The jury ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to prove they owned the claim.
Expedia’s legal team is pursuing sanctions against the plaintiffs and their lawyers to cover the legal costs of the lawsuit, estimated at over $1.5 million.
“The purpose of this fraud was to use a knowingly false allegation and the threat of multi-billion-dollar statutory damages to extract a settlement from defendant Expedia Group,” according to the motion filed by Expedia.A separate lawsuit against Expedia has fared better so far. Earlier this year, a Florida jury found Expedia guilty of trafficking confiscated property, ordering the company – and their codefendants – to pay up to $30 million (or possibly as much as $119.4 million).
In that case, the beneficiaries would be Mario Echevarría and his family, who claim to own Cayo Coco, a key on the northern coast of Cuba where Expedia booked rooms. The Cayo Coco resorts were built after the Cuban revolution.
The Echevarría case was the first favorable jury verdict in a Title III lawsuit. But the ruling may not last long. The defendants have filed a motion asking the judge to overturn the jury’s verdict and the judge’s initial response seemed to be favorable to their request.
Even if Expedia doesn’t end up footing any bills, people in Cuba are already paying the price.
In April, Expedia sent an email to Cuban owners of private bed-and-breakfasts explaining that the company's U.S. license to operate on the island expired and the Trump administration had indicated the license “will not be renewed.”
There are now no Cuba listings on Expedia's website. Hear from some of these Cuban bed-and-breakfast owners in our LATEST VIDEO.
Expedia made no mention of the lawsuits as part of its rationale to stop operating in Cuba. However, Title III lawsuits have been a deterrent for many foreign companies that might otherwise have been interested in investing in Cuba but have steered clear out of fear of getting sued in a U.S. court.
For more on the lobbying campaign that moved Trump to implement Title III during his first term, read our article Billboards and Backchannels.