American Airlines Successfully Defends Helms-Burton Act Win

In the first published appellate opinion addressing a lawsuit under the Helms-Burton Act, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the plaintiff failed to satisfy a statutory precondition because he acquired his alleged claim by inheritance outside the permitted time period.

The Helms-Burton Act allows certain U.S. nationals who own claims to property confiscated by the Cuban government to seek damages from persons who "traffic" in the confiscated property. See 22 U.S.C. § 6021 et seq. Although U.S. Presidents had suspended this cause of action ever since Congress enacted the Act in 1996, the Trump administration ended the suspension in May 2019. Thereafter, many plaintiffs filed claims against a variety of defendants.