Expedia must pay almost $ 30 million to Cuban American under Helms-Burton law

A federal jury of the South District of Florida granted the plaintiff a compensation of 29.8 million dollars against the four corporate defendants of Expedia, in the first jury trial held under the Helms-Burton law.

The law firm Rivero Mestrewhich represented the Cuban American Mario Echevarría in the trial against Expedia Group, INC, described the judgment of Judge Federico A. Moreno of «historical legal victory.»

Echevarría filed the demand under Title III of the Helms-Burton, which allows Cuban Americans to claim damage to the entities that traffic with goods confiscated by the communist dictatorship of Castro, said the legal firm in a statement.

The plaintiff, American naturalized, He claimed land ownership in Cayo Coco expropriated to his family by the government of Fidel Castro in 1963, under the second Agrarian Reform Law. Expedia Group and its subsidiaries (Hotels.com LP, Hotels.com GP and Orbitz LLC), facilitated hotel reservations through their Internet sites on properties built on expropriated land.

Expedia Group was indicated for receiving compensation for reservations in the Iberostar Mojito, Iberostar Colonial and Pullman Cayo Coco Hotels through contracts with companies such as Mar Caribe and Accor Sa

«This is a great victory not only for our client, but also for the Cuban American community in general, whose properties were unjustly usurped and exploited by US companies in collaboration with the Cuban communist dictatorship,» said lawyer Andrés Rivero.

«We are proud to have contributed to justice under a law that had never been proven before a jury,» he added.

In November 2022, the buffet Rivero Mestre, with offices in Miami and New York, won an appeal in demand under the Helms-Burton law against companies Trivago GmbH, Booking.com BV, Expedia Inc. and other travel companies.

The Court of Appeals of the eleventh US Circuit then revoked the previous dismissal of a lawsuit for violations of the Helms-Burton law by the defendants, «all companies that have trafficked and benefited from the trafficking of properties confiscated by the Cuban government,» said the firm.

Title III of the Helms-Burton also provides compensation for damages tripled against the defendant who, having received prior notification of the claim, has not stopped its traffic or compensated to the owners of the confiscated assets.

In this case, the jury ruled in favor of the plaintiff, granting a triplicate sum of $ 9 million 950 thousand dollars, for damages, for a total of $ 29 million 850 thousand dollars.