Cuba seized the Havana docks in 1960, a US company won more than $100 million from each of four cruise lines, and the Supreme Court revived its claim in 2026

Havana Docks Corporation, a US company, held a concession to run the docks in Havana's port. The Supreme Court's majority says Cuba granted it in 1928 to expire in 2004; Justice Kagan's dissent says the concession began in 1905 with a predecessor for 50 years and was extended to 99. In 1960, after Fidel Castro took power, Cuban forces seized the docks, expelled the company's agents and paid nothing. The US Foreign Claims Settlement Commission certified the loss at about $9 million plus 6 percent annual interest. Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act lets US owners of confiscated property sue anyone who "traffics" in it, but presidents suspended that right until 2019. From 2016 to 2019 Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Carnival and MSC carried nearly a million passengers through the docks. Havana Docks sued in Miami in 2019 and won summary judgment of more than $100 million against each line, $110 million each after trebling, interest and fees. A divided Eleventh Circuit reversed, holding that the concession would have expired before the cruises. On 21 May 2026 the Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1, in an opinion by Justice Thomas, that using the docks was enough, vacated that ruling and sent the case back. Status: remanded to the lower courts; no final judgment reported as of October 2026^†.