A Federal Court of Miami left “without effect” the verdicts of the jury and issued sentences in favor of the defendants.
Miami, United States. – The South District Court of Florida (Miami Division) left the jury verdict that had sentenced the online travel agency Expedia and entities related to paying more than 29 million dollars (USD) for “traffic” with a property in Cuba, and issued a sentence in favor of the defendants in the case “Mario Echevarria vs. Expedia, Inc.”, According to the specialized website Cubatrade.
In the conclusion of the ruling, the court left “without effect” the verdicts of the jury and issued sentences in favor of the defendants. He also recalled that “those who are notified that their actions violate the law must stop their activity.”
“The defendants did cease the reservations with the hotels located in the inherited property of the plaintiff within 30 days provided by law and, thus, complied with the purpose of the law approved by Congress and signed by President Clinton,” details the ruling.
In addition, the Court stressed: “Perhaps, now we understand the decisions of our presidents of the United States, both Democrats and Republicans, to provisionally suspend Title III of the Cuban Democratic Freedom and Democratic Solidarity Law. (…) There may be little comfort for any of the parties of this first trial with a jury under the Helms-Burton law (…). After all, even without a monetary sentence in favor of the plaintiff, Helms-Burton law did follow. ”
Background of the case
On April 18, a jury of the Court itself in Miami had ordered Expedia and three related entities to pay $ 29.85 million for violating provisions of Title III of the Law of Democratic Freedom and Solidarity of 1996 (Liberty Law or Helms-Burton), according to Cubatrade.
This title authorizes demands in Federal Courts of the US against companies or individuals who use (or “traffic” with) assets confiscated in Cuba and whose owners have not been compensated by the Republic of Cuba or by third parties that use them. The Trump-Pance administration was operational on May III on May 2, 2019.
According to Cubatradethe plaintiffs alleged that Expedia offered reservations to Resorts Built in a “Barrera Island” within the territory of Cuba, and argued that the property was confiscated without compensation by the Cuban government.
The plaintiff of the case, the Cuban American Mario Echevarría, an American citizen since 1983, claims the property of Cayo Coco, confiscated to his family based on the agrarian reform laws issued by Fidel Castro as of 1959.
After the verdict of April 18, favorable to Echevarría, the companies demanded presented a “renewed motion to issue a judgment as a matter of law” and a “motion for a new trial or, subsidiarily, proposal of Remittitur [reducción judicial del monto del veredicto]”. On July 28, Judge Federico A. Moreno issued an electronic order in which he conducted the authorization parties to exceed the limits of pages in his opposition and replica writings. On July 31, the plaintiff Mario Echevarría presented responses in opposition to both motions.
Finally, this September 5, the court left the jury verdicts without effect and issued a sentence in favor of Expedia Group.
