US Supreme Court to Hear Exxon Cuba Compensation Claim

ARCHIVE PHOTO: The ExxonMobil logo is seen in this illustration taken on October 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Archive · Reuters

By Jan Wolfe

Monday, February 23, 2026, 11:00 p.m. GMT+9 3-minute read

In this article:

XOM +2.17%

By Jan Wolfe

Feb 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court will hear on Monday the scope of a law that allows American companies to seek compensation for property confiscated by Cuba in cases involving ExxonMobil and cruise operators, at a time when the Trump administration is increasing pressure on the Cuban government.

The court will hear arguments in two cases related to the 1996 U.S. law called the Helms-Burton Act, which allowed lawsuits in U.S. courts against anyone “trafficking” in property confiscated by Cuba’s communist government after the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.

In one case, Exxon is seeking more than $1 billion in damages from Cuban state entities for oil and gas assets confiscated by the Cuban government in 1960.

The other case concerns whether four cruise operators—Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, and MSC Cruises—should be held responsible for using docks built by a U.S. company that Cuba also confiscated in 1960. The cruise line case will be discussed first.

Exxon has the backing of the Trump administration in the litigation.

The administration has declared Cuba “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security, cutting off Venezuelan oil supplies to the Caribbean island nation and threatening tariffs on any country that supplies fuel.

Although the two cases focus on different legal issues, both raise the question of how powerful Congress intended the Helms-Burton law to be. In both cases, the Supreme Court has the opportunity to remove barriers faced by plaintiffs seeking to sue under the law.

Castro’s confiscation of all Exxon’s oil and gas assets in Cuba resulted in a loss valued at $70 million at the time. Exxon’s current claim is much higher due to interest and potential increased damages.

In 2019, Exxon sued CIMEX Corporation, Cuba’s largest conglomerate. Exxon accused CIMEX of continuing to hold and profit from the confiscated assets.

Exxon appealed to the Supreme Court after a lower court ruled that Cuban state entities facing lawsuits under Helms-Burton could invoke a legal defense called foreign sovereign immunity, which protects foreign governments and their agents from U.S. lawsuits unless an exception applies.

Story Continues

The cruise line case was filed by Havana Docks, a U.S. entity that held a 99-year concession granted in 1934 by the Cuban government to build and operate docks in Havana. Castro’s government revoked that agreement.

The four cruise lines sued by Havana Docks used the terminal between 2016 and 2019, after then-President Barack Obama eased travel restrictions to Cuba.

A federal judge ruled that the cruise lines had engaged in illegal trafficking by using the terminal and imposed judgments of over $100 million. Havana Docks appealed after a lower court dismissed those judgments, considering that it had no valid claim because its concession had expired in 2004, long before the cruise lines used the facilities.

When Congress passed the Helms-Burton Act, it authorized the U.S. president to suspend, for national security reasons, the provision allowing lawsuits in U.S. courts.

This provision was suspended by three presidents seeking to avoid diplomatic conflicts with allies like Canada and Spain, whose companies have invested in Cuba. Trump lifted that suspension in 2019 during his first term.

(Report by Jan Wolfe in New Orleans; edited by Will Dunham; Spanish edition by Ricardo Figueroa)

Terms and Privacy Policy

Privacy Panel