Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTBy Jan WolfeTue, June 23, 2026 at 5:52 PM GMT+2 4 min readBy Jan WolfeWASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court made it easier on Tuesday for U.S. companies to seek compensation from Cuba's government for property seized decades ago by former leader Fidel Castro's government, ruling in favor of ExxonMobil in its lawsuit against Cuban state-owned firm Corporación CIMEX.In a 6-3 decision, the court said a legal defense called foreign sovereign immunity, which generally prohibits U.S. lawsuits against foreign governments and their agents, is not available in cases like the one Exxon brought against CIMEX under a 1996 U.S. law called the Helms-Burton Act.Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who authored the ruling, wrote that the 30-year-old federal law "abrogates the sovereign immunity of Cuban agencies and instrumentalities.""The Helms-Burton Act authorizes private suits against Cuban agencies and instrumentalities — suits that would largely be nonstarters if subjected to the FSIA's requirements," Kavanaugh wrote, referring to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976.The court's six conservative justices were in the majority, while its three liberal justices dissented from the ruling.The Supreme Court reversed a lower court's 2024 ruling that CIMEX could invoke the sovereign immunity defense.The decision removes a major obstacle Exxon faced in its 2019 lawsuit that accused CIMEX of unlawfully using a refinery and service stations that once belonged to Standard Oil, Exxon's corporate predecessor. The case will return to a lower court for further deliberations on CIMEX's potential liability.A Helms-Burton Act provision called Title III permits lawsuits to be filed in U.S. courts against anyone who "traffics" in property confiscated by Cuba's communist government after the 1959 revolution that brought Castro to power. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration supported Exxon's appeal to the Supreme Court.US-CUBA TENSIONSThe ruling was issued at a rancorous time in U.S.-Cuban relations. The United States on May 20 brought murder charges against former Cuban President Raúl Castro, Fidel's younger brother, in a major escalation in Trump's pressure campaign against Cuba's government.Under Trump, the United States has effectively imposed a blockade on Cuba by threatening sanctions on countries supplying it with fuel, triggering power outages and exacerbating its worst crisis in decades.Exxon's suit involved Fidel Castro's confiscation of all of the U.S. energy company's Cuban oil and gas assets in 1959, which represented a loss valued at $70 million at the time. Exxon's current claim is now valued at more than $1 billion because of interest and the potential for enhanced damages.Terms and Privacy PolicyEU DSA contactPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info