The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Exxon Mobil Corporation can proceed with its $1 billion lawsuit against Cuban state-owned companies that have operated its confiscated property for over six decades. The 6–3 decision, authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, clears a major legal hurdle for the American oil giant.

Background of the Case

The legal battle stems from events in 1960, a year after Fidel Castro took power in Cuba. The communist government confiscated numerous American-owned assets, including an oil refinery, terminals, packaging plants, and more than 100 service stations belonging to Exxon.

Exxon filed its lawsuit in 2019 under Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, which allows U.S. citizens to sue any person or entity that “traffics in” property stolen by the Cuban government. The Cuban companies moved to dismiss the case, claiming immunity under the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).

Supreme Court Decision

The Supreme Court rejected the Cuban companies’ claim of immunity, holding that the Helms-Burton Act explicitly strips Cuban agencies of their sovereign immunity. Justice Kavanaugh wrote that a congressional waiver of immunity must be “clearly discernible from the sum total” of Congress’s work.

In her dissenting opinion, Justice Elena Kagan argued that the majority improperly read an immunity waiver into a law that does not explicitly contain one. She stated that creating a right to sue and stripping a sovereign entity of its immunity are “analytically distinct” concepts.

Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.