Helms-Burton Suit Against Airlines Paused For COVID-19
By Nathan Hale

Law360 (April 6, 2020) -- A Florida federal judge agreed with American Airlines on Monday that the coronavirus outbreak warrants pausing a suit accusing the carrier and Chile's LATAM Airlines of illegally profiting from Cuba's main international airport, rejecting the plaintiff's objections to a stay.

In a two-page order, U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez cited the situation caused by the pandemic as his reason for suspending José Ramón López Regueiro’s case, which was one of the first to bring claims under the Helms-Burton Act that a company had unlawfully trafficked in property confiscated by Cuba’s communist government.

Judge Martinez said he was ordering the litigation temporarily closed “[g]iven the inability to proceed with the orderly progress of the case due to the uncertainty regarding the duration of the restrictions and worldwide pandemic, and to conserve the parties’ and judicial resources.”

The judge indicated that he found the rights of the parties would not be prejudiced by this action. He said he will restore the case upon motion by the parties, ordering them to file a status report with the court on May 1 and every month thereafter.

Regueiro filed his suit last May after the Trump administration lifted a suspension of Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act to allow U.S. nationals to sue over property seized by Cuba’s Castro regime.

The Miami man is seeking monetary damages against the two airlines based on his assertion that he is the rightful owner of Havana’s José Martí International Airport, which he said was illegally confiscated from his family by the government in 1959.

The order came down the same day that Regueiro voiced his objections to a motion American filed on Friday requesting a 60-day stay of all proceedings on account of the pandemic and the severe impact it has had on the airline industry.

Regueiro said that he had agreed to discuss a 60-day extension of pretrial and trial deadlines, but he did not think a stay on discovery was appropriate because of American’s failure to comply with his requests predated the pandemic.

“American had the opportunity to and should have done the basic work related to its production obligations months ago, rather than rely on objections that are not well-founded,” Regueiro said. “American should not be allowed to further delay and evade production of discovery due at least four months ago under cover of a crisis that has befallen the country in the last two weeks.”

With a discovery hearing scheduled for Wednesday, after several cancellations, including due to one magistrate judge’s recusal, Regueiro argued that a stay was not the right step.

“Staying defendants’ discovery obligations would only reward their stalling tactics and unreasonably delay the resolution of this matter in contradiction to the instruction of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 1 that mandates the ‘just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action,’” he argued.

American invoked the pandemic in its motion, pointing to states of emergency declared at the national level and in Texas and Florida and “stay at home” orders imposed by Dallas and Tarrant counties in Texas and Florida’s Miami-Dade County, where it has significant personnel.

It also cited the financial and logistical challenges facing its business, with nearly one-third of all passenger planes grounded worldwide and its own stock price having fallen as much as 70%.

“American’s strained operations and limited time and resources are now focused on protecting its business, employees, and passengers in these very challenging times,” the company said. “A stay of the instant proceedings will allow American to focus on the safety of the general public and the survival of the airline industry through, and after, the COVID-19 pandemic.”

American Airlines recently pointed to a decision dismissing another Helms-Burton case against Amazon and an importer of Cuban charcoal as evidence that Regueiro’s suit should be tossed as well. Counsel for American Airlines declined to comment. Counsel for Regueiro did not immediately respond to an inquiry late Monday.

Regueiro is represented by Andres Rivero, Jorge A. Mestre, Alan Rolnick and Carlos A. Rodriguez of Rivero Mestre LLP and Manuel Vazquez of Manuel Vazquez PA. American Airlines is represented by Ricardo H. Puente, Christopher R.J. Pace and Karl Remón Thompson of Jones Day. LATAM is represented by Pedro A. Freyre and Naim S. Surgeon of Akerman LLP. The case is Jose Ramon Lopez Regueiro v. American Airlines Inc. et al., case number 1:19-cv-23965, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.