The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against several cruise ship companies for docking in Cuba from 2016 to 2019, when Americans were allowed to travel there. File Photo by Ingo Wagner/EPA
May 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday ruled against four major cruise lines who docked ships at the Port of Havana.
Carnival, MSC, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian operated cruises to Havana from 2016 to 2019 and used the docks to land there illegally, according to the complaint. The decision reinstates a $440 million judgment against them, but it allows them to use new arguments in lower courts.
The Court decision was 8-1, with only Justice Elena Kagan dissenting. The decision doesn't decide the case but allows the litigation to continue.
The companies are alleged to have violated the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, which allows Americans to seek damages against anyone who "traffics in" property seized by Fidel Castro's regime in the Cuban Revolution in 1959. The law also allows former Cubans who later gained U.S. citizenship to sue.
