Washington - A U.S. judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act on Cuba, January 7, after making a similar ruling in favor of MSC Cruises.
Judge Beth Bloom issued an order in Miami, Florida, dismissing the claim with prejudice, meaning that the court had made a final determination on the merits of the case and that the plaintiff is therefore barred from taking further legal action based on the same grounds.
Havana Docks Corporation, a company that claims to be the rightful owner of commercial real estate in the Port of Havana, filed the lawsuit on August 27, against Norwegian Cruise Line and two other companies, MSC Cruises and Royal Caribbean, for the use of this infrastructure.
The claim alleged that beginning in March of 2017, and over the next two years, Norwegian “knowingly and intentionally” began, conducted and promoted cruises to Cuba, regularly boarding and disembarking its passengers “without the authorization of the plaintiff or any citizen of the United States who has a claim on the subject property.”
For its part, the cruise line argued in a motion that the lawsuit should be dismissed for four reasons, among them that the plaintiff does not provide sufficient evidence to plausibly allege that the cruise line knowingly and intentionally engaged in trafficking or illegal travel.
The plaintiff had a claim on the terminal, which was nationalized by Cuba in 1960. This claim, however, expired in 2004, 13 years before the cruise line’s ships began stops in Havana in 2017, Norwegian argued.
In her ruling, Judge Beth Bloom of the U.S. District Court for South Florida used the same reasoning, she presented in the earlier dismissal of Havana Docks’ suit against MSC Cruises SA and MSC Cruises USA.
The document issued by the judge stated that the plaintiff's claim involved a time-limit making it irrelevant to activities that took place years later.
Bloom made a similar statement in her January 3 ruling, which dismissed Havana Docks Corporation’s suit against MSC Cruises.
The Helms-Burton Act, approved by the U.S. Congress in 1996, is among the laws that codify the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by Washington on Cuba for almost 60 years ago.
Its Title III, which the Trump administration activated on May 2, 2019, allows U.S. citizens to file claims against individuals and entities, including those in third countries, who invest in property nationalized by Cuba after the triumph of the Revolution on January 1, 1959. (Information from Prensa Latina)
