Supreme Court Rules Cruise Lines Must Pay for Using Cuban Port

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled 8-1 on Thursday that major cruise lines are liable for using a Havana port confiscated from a U.S. company in 1959. The decision holds Royal Caribbean Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Carnival Corporation and MSC Cruises responsible for payments after they transported more than a million passengers to the port without compensating the original American owners.

Docks Corporation acquired the Port of Havana in 1928 under a contract that was scheduled to run until 2004. Cuban authorities seized the property in 1959. The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission later certified a claim by Havana Docks for roughly $9 million in losses plus 6 percent annual interest.

The 1996 Law and Its Application Congress passed the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act in 1996. The statute created a private right of action for U.S. citizens whose property was confiscated after January 1, 1959, and imposed liability on parties that knowingly traffic in such property.

All presidents suspended the provision until the suspension expired in 2019. Cruise lines then began using the port while making payments only to the Cuban government.

Thomas wrote the majority opinion.

He stated that the cruise lines' use of the property was tainted by the prior confiscation and that Havana Docks did not need to prove interference in a counterfactual scenario. Justice Elena Kagan dissented. She said the docks belonged to the Cuban government at the time of the cruise line visits and that Havana Docks' time-limited interest had expired in 2004.

“The docks belonged to the Cuban Government — not Havana Docks — all along.”

A concurrence noted that Havana Docks could seek additional compensation beyond the $110 million per cruise line already at issue. The ruling returns the case to lower courts for further proceedings on damages.