MIAMI, United States. – Judge Lauren Louis, of the Federal Court of the Southern District of Florida, based in Miami, dismissed the lawsuit of a citizen of Cuban origin against the airline American Airlines and LATAM Airlines Group.
In September 2019, the law firm Rivero Mestre LLP filed a lawsuit under the Helms-Burton Act against both companies for operating at the “José Martí” International Airport in Havana.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of José Ramón López Regueiro, son of the owner of the Havana airport until its expropriation after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.
In accordance with case report and recommendationsissued by the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the plaintiff failed to show that the property was seized from a United States citizen.
Although it did not prosper, the lawsuit against American Airlines and LATAM Airlines Group was possible thanks to the activation of the Title III of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, which the Donald Trump administration put into effect in May 2018 after 20 years in abeyance.
Said provision empowers US citizens whose properties in Cuba were confiscated after the Revolution to sue in US courts the companies that benefit from those assets.
After the entry into force of Title III, companies such as Carnival, Expedia, Booking, Trivago, Meliá, Barceló, Accor, Blue Diamond and the Société Générale bank were sued.
According to the Rivero Mestre LLP law firm, more than 40 cargo and passenger airlines use or “illegally” benefit from the “José Martí” International Airport without compensating their client.
José Ramón López Regueiro is the son of José López Vilaboy, who as owner of the José Martí airport in the 50s of the 20th century expanded and modernized it to transform it into an international category facility.
López Vilaboy was not compensated for the expropriation.
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