LafargeHolcim has agreed in principle to settle a lawsuit brought by a group of 25 U.S. nationals who claimed the company used their Cuban property to conduct business, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The lawsuit, filed in September in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, is one of dozens of cases brought under a long-dormant provision of the Helms-Burton Act. The Trump administration ended the suspension of Title III of the 1996 Act in May 2019. The provision allows certain U.S. nationals with claims on properties confiscated by the Cuban government to seek compensation from companies operating on those properties.
The plaintiffs claimed in the lawsuit that the property they owned through Compañía Azucarera Soledad SA was confiscated without compensation by the Cuban government in 1960. They are seeking up to $810 million in monetary damages.
Lawyers for the parties are working on a definitive settlement with a mediator.
The certified claims originally belonged to five Americans, who were all members of the same family and sole owners of Compañía Azucarera Soledad SA, a closely held family-owned company in Cienfuegos, Cuba, whose property has been used by LafargeHolcim.
