On July 31, 2025, a jury in Delaware federal court rendered a verdict in favor of SDM’s client, Expedia Group, Inc., in a lawsuit brought under the Helms-Burton Act in which the plaintiff sought more than $1.7 billion in damages.

Central Santa Lucia, L.C. (“CSL”), a Florida limited liability company formed in 1996, sued Expedia Group in 2022, alleging that Expedia Group violated the Helms-Burton Act by trafficking in confiscated property in Cuba that, according to CSL, was previously owned by the Sanchez Hill family. CSL purported to own the claim to a 100,000-acre area of coastal land in Cuba where several resort hotels are now located, and alleged that Expedia Group trafficked that property when certain of its affiliates facilitated online bookings at those hotels. Under the Act’s damages provision, CSL sought damages equal to at least the entire value of those hotels, which it claimed to be $1.7 billion.

Importantly, however, only U.S. nationals who owned the claim to confiscated property in Cuban before March 12, 1996—the date the Helms-Burton Act was enacted—can sue for trafficking under the statute. To satisfy this requirement, CSL alleged that on March 7, 1996, thirteen members of the Sanchez Hill family assigned their claims to the newly-formed CSL. To support this allegation, CSL produced written, notarized assignment documents that, on their face, purported to have been executed on March 7, 1996. But SDM and Expedia Group uncovered evidence that the assignment documents did not exist in 1996 but were instead created years later and backdated. In light of this evidence, the district court bifurcated the case and set the date-of-acquisition issue for trial before all other issues.

After two days of testimony—including from two individuals who claimed to have witnessed the execution of the assignment documents on March 7, 1996—the eight-person jury deliberated for only two hours before returning a unanimous verdict for Expedia Group, finding that the assignment documents were not signed on the date alleged.

David Shank is lead counsel for Expedia Group in this and other Helms-Burton Act cases. He and Lauren Ditty led SDM’s trial team in this case, which also included Stephen Burbank and Becca Jahnke.