2020 Presidential Election And Libertad Act Lawsuit Decisions- What Winners Do, Losers Do, Politicans Do?
/What If U.S. Courts Decide Near 3 November 2020 Against U.S. Plaintiffs And In Favor Of Defendants In EU-Member Countries?
How Will The Trump Administration React? Congress?
What If U.S. Courts Decide Near 3 November 2020 In Favor Of U.S. Plaintiffs Against Defendants From EU-Member Countries?
Some of the 106 listed attorneys from 29 law firms representing the 72 plaintiffs and 67 defendants believe, baring dismissals or out-of-court settlements, that United States District Courts in Delaware (1 case), Nevada (1 case), Southern Florida (16 cases), Washington DC (1 case) and Western Washington (1 case) will render decisions in 2020 for some or all of the twenty filed lawsuits using Title III of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 (known as “Libertad Act”). The total damages sought by the twenty lawsuits, some (certified claimants) of which are entitled to seek treble damages, are valued at more than US$1 billion. LINK To Statistics
Given that 80% of the lawsuits filed thus far are before judges in the United States District Court Southern District of Florida, there is an inescapable political context given the significance how the 13,507,074 registered voters (as of 30 September 2019) in the state of Florida vote in the 3 November 2020 election for president of the United States.
For example, unless dismissed or settled, Jose Ramon Lopez Regueiro vs. American Airlines Inc. is scheduled for a two-week trial on 23 November 2020 with mediation completed by 7 August 2020 and Havana Docks Corporation vs. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is scheduled for a two-week trial on 4 January 2021 with mediation completed by 22 September 2020.
There will be pressures to have in place decisions, settlements, and judgements that directly and indirectly impact the Republic of Cuba, particularly non-United States-based defendant companies, so the decision by the Trump Administration to implement Title III will be deemed a domestic political success.
Title III authorizes lawsuits in United States District Courts against companies and individuals who are using property where the owner of the certified claim or non-certified claim has not received compensation from the Republic of Cuba or from a third-party who is using (“trafficking”) the asset.
If plaintiffs secure judgements against defendants whose corporate headquarters are located within the current twenty-eight (28) member Brussels, Belgium-based European Union (EU), and those plaintiffs seek to enforce those judgements against assets located in the United States, how will the EU respond?
There exist EU regulations and statutes, and regulations and statutes enacted by individual EU members, but none have been tested judicially as there was little thought given to Title III ever being implemented. It’s been twenty-three years since the Libertad Act was signed into law- a twentieth century law enacted in the twenty-first century.
If a U.S. plaintiff obtains a judgement, and then seizes funds controlled by the defendant that are in a U.S. financial institution, will the EU then seek the same against the U.S. plaintiff if the U.S. plaintiff has an account at a financial institution within reach of the EU?
For U.S. plaintiffs with a judgement from a United States District Court, the first effort will be to seize bank accounts held in United States-based financial institutions. Next up, monies that third-parties are paying to the defendants. Lastly, physical assets located in the United States. Whatever funds remain uncollected become a potentially perpetual I.O.U.
The Trump Administration, with support from members of the United States Congress, may seek to divert funds paid by financial institutions and companies to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury for unauthorized or illegal/unauthorized transactions with the Republic of Cuba and other countries.
The Clinton Administration embraced a similar concept when it permitted individuals having court judgements against the Republic of Cuba to invade approximately US$200 million in funds belonging to the government of the Republic of Cuba that had been blocked for use to compensate certified claimants.
The Trump Administration might advocate similar action first for non-certified claimants rather than certified claimants; believing politically beneficial in an election year for Republic of Cuba nationals whose assets were expropriated without compensation by the government of the Republic of Cuba to be made whole before the interests of certified claimants (assets owned by individuals/companies who were United States citizens/owners at the time of expropriation). Providing monies to individuals is generally more politically appealing than providing monies to corporations.
Certified claimant Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil (2018 revenues approximately US$279 billion), should it be victorious in its Title III lawsuit against Republic of Cuba government-operated Corporacion Cimex S.A. and Republic of Cuba government-operated Union Cuba-Petroleo, for the expropriation of assets valued at US$71,611,002.90, would have the greatest global reach by which to seek recovery of any judgment. Exxon Mobil is seeking treble damages; the total sought is US$214,833,008.70. The company will likely be pressured by activist shareholders, members of the United States Congress, and the Trump Administration to use all means available to satisfy any judgement.
One target for Exxon Mobil could be Denver, Colorado-based Western Union Company (2018 revenues approximately US$6 billion) which has electronically delivered annually transfers of reportedly valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars from the United States to the Republic of Cuba. The Republic of Cuba has earned in fees at least US$939,367.20 (or US$4,264,727.08 with interest), the value of a certified claim held by Western Union Company. Eliminate or reduce the fee paid by Western Union Company to Republic of Cuba government-operated Fincimex (a subsidiary of Republic of Cuba government-operated Corporacion Cimex S.A.) and the certified claim evaporates. Western Union Company does not report data as to the value of transfers from the United States to the Republic of Cuba; consistent media reporting estimates that remittances from the United States to the Republic of Cuba are annually approximately US$1.5 billion to US$3 billion, with the majority of the funds delivered as currency by individuals traveling to the Republic of Cuba. On 14 March 2018, Havana Times, an online publication edited in Nicaragua, reported without verification that Western Union Company delivered “more than 3 billion US dollars annually” to the Republic of Cuba, but did not mention as to the origin(s) of the funds- whether from the United States and/or other countries. To send US$100.00 from the United States to the Republic of Cuba where the recipient will receive the funds in currency, using www.westernunion.com, the fees range from 9% to 14.99% to 19.49% depending upon delivery time and method of payment used for the transaction. The Republic of Cuba reportedly receives approximately 20% of the fee paid by customers to Western Union. LINK To Western Union Company certified claim.
Claims Background
The Trump Administration commenced implementation of Title III through a series of announcements beginning in on 16 January 2019 and continuing through 4 March 2019, 3 April 2019, 17 April 2019 and finally on 2 May 2019.
There are 8,821 claims of which 5,913 awards valued at US$1,902,202,284.95 were certified by the United States Foreign Claims Settlement Commission (USFCSC) within the United States Department of Justice and have not been resolved for more than sixty years (some assets were officially confiscated in the 1960’s, some in the 1970’s and some in the 1990’s. The USFCSC permitted simple interest (not compound interest) of 6% per annum (approximately US$114,132,137.10); with the approximate current value of the 5,913 certified claims US$8,521,866,236.75. There are an unknown number of non-certified claims; the United States Department of State has referenced an estimate of approximately 200,000.
The first asset to be expropriated by the Republic of Cuba was an oil refinery in 1960 owned by White Plains, New York-based Texaco, Inc., now a subsidiary of San Ramon, California-based Chevron Corporation (USFCSC: CU-1331/CU-1332/CU-1333 valued at US$56,196,422.73). Chevron has not filed a lawsuit using the Libertad Act.
The largest certified claim (Cuban Electric Company) valued at US$267,568,413.62 is controlled by Boca Raton, Florida-based Office Depot, Inc. The second-largest certified claim (International Telephone and Telegraph Co, ITT as Trustee, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.) valued at US$181,808,794.14 is controlled by Bethesda, Maryland-based Marriott International; the certified claim also includes land adjacent to the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, Republic of Cuba. Marriott International manages one hotel (and plans for a second in 2020) in the Republic of Cuba. The smallest certified claim is by Sara W. Fishman in the amount of US$1.00 with reference to the Cuban-Venezuelan Oil Voting Trust. Neither Office Depot nor Marriott International have filed a lawsuit using the Libertad Act.
The two (2) largest certified claims total US$449,377,207.76, representing 24% of the total value of the certified claims. Thirty (30) certified claimants hold 56% of the total value of the certified claims. This concentration of value creates an efficient pathway towards a settlement.
LINK To Complete Analysis
