Supreme Court lets ExxonMobil pursue $3 billion Cuba property case

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Tuesday that ExxonMobil can press its lawsuit in U.S. courts against Cuban state-owned companies over property confiscated after Fidel Castro took power. The justices reversed a lower-court decision that had shielded the Cuban companies from the case. ExxonMobil is seeking compensation for assets once owned by Standard Oil subsidiaries, including more than 100 service stations and an oil refinery. A U.S. claims commission valued the property at $71.6 million in 1969; with 6% annual interest from 1960, the claim would be about $3 billion today before possible treble damages. The decision is the court's second recent ruling favoring U.S. property claims under the Helms-Burton law.