When a federal judge in Miami dismissed yet another lawsuit by an American seeking recourse against a corporation for using property seized long ago by the Cuban government, the decision called into question whether any of the cases may succeed.

More than two dozen cases were filed after the Trump administration allowed Title III of the Helms-Burton Act to take effect in May 2019. The move gave U.S. citizens the green light to pursue litigation against entities that purportedly traffic in Cuban property owned privately before the 1959 communist revolution.

With the latest ruling in hand from U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King in Miami, several claims have been stymied.

"The way the cases are proceeding at the moment, I don't see many that seem like they're cruising toward victory," said Robert Muse, a Washington attorney who lobbied against Helms-Burton at its inception.

The recent ruling issued July 9 was in favor of Carnival Corp. because the plaintiff acquired his claim — via an inheritance from a cousin in Costa Rica — after the March 12, 1996, cutoff date specified in the law. Jones Walker handled the case for Carnival against a Jacksonville neurosurgeon who said he had rights to docks in the port of Santiago de Cuba used by the cruise operator since 2016.

As precedent, the judgment in favor of Carnival cited the dismissal May 11 of another Helms-Burton claim — against Amazon and Susshi International, which was selling Cuban coal online — because that plaintiff inherited the property less than four years ago.

Muse said he could see the statute potentially being amended to accommodate inheritances after 1996.

For nearly a quarter-century, U.S. administrations repeatedly invoked a six-month waiver of the civil liability provisions in Helms-Burton. Waiver supporters hoped a gentle approach might nudge the island toward democracy and more capitalism.

Those waivers effectively aged out many individual claims from collecting damages before the Trump administration opened the courthouse door.

Potential claims

The U.S. Justice Department's Foreign Claims Settlement Commission certified nearly 6,000 claims on property confiscated by Cuba with a principal value of $1.9 billion.

Cases have trickled in over the past year. John Kavulich, president of the nonprofit U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council Inc., tallied 26 cases filed under the Title III provision of Helms-Burton with potential damages of "several billion dollars."

Hotels, airlines and travel reservation sites are among the companies defending against claims they  profited from property seized by the government of the late Fidel Castro.

The Helms-Burton Act describes these business dealings as "trafficking." A successful trafficking lawsuit entitles U.S. nationals to seek treble damages plus attorney fees.

Yet the barriers are high for individual claimants: There's a $7,000 filing fee, which some find prohibitive, and the possibility of being countersued if the claimant seeks compensation from Canadian or EU companies.

Some South Florida law firms pooled clients to counter deep-pocketed corporate defendants while testing the waters for the lawsuits.

"You go to war with a corporation doing business in Cuba — a Spanish hotel company or anything like that — then you can expect that they're going to hire lawyers that are going to fight you. They're going to fight you subtly and effectively," Muse warned.

Establishing jurisdiction

Plaintiffs moving forward with Title III claims have struggled to establish jurisdiction.

In a class action case against hotel booking sites including Expedia and Trivago, U.S. District Judge Robert Scola of the Southern District of Florida ruled in May that the plaintiffs failed to establish the companies conducted enough activity in Florida to merit hearing the case in Miami.

The plaintiffs argued the case was appropriate for the Southern District of Florida because customers in the state can access the websites to make reservations at hotels on properties once owned by their families.

Three plaintiffs represented by Coral Gables firm Rivero Mestre filed notices of appeal. Eight other plaintiffs in the case are listed as terminated.

Baker McKenzie represented Trivago, a German limited liability company, and Booking Holdings, in the case. Scott Douglass & McConnico represented Expedia, Hotels.com and Orbitz.

When Title III of Helms-Burton fails, claimants may find recourse in the long-dormant Title IV, which denies entry to the U.S. for people who are believed to have gained personally from properties confiscated in Cuba.

Spanish hotels giant Meliá said in February that CEO Gabriel Escarrer has been barred from entering the U.S. because the chain has done business in Cuba for three decades.

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