While an Eleventh Circuit panel found a former Cuban citizen had standing to sue Royal Caribbean Cruises over the company’s use of his inherited land in that country, it nevertheless dismissed the dispute on its merits, in a win for Boies Schiller Flexner, which represented the Florida-based cruise line.

The land in dispute is called La Marítima and Terminal Naviera and was nationalized by the Cuban government in the 1960s. Plaintiff Dr. Javier Garcia-Bengochea inherited an 82.5% interest the property after his cousin died in 2000. Cruise liner companies, meanwhile, were using the nationalized ports as part of their tourist stops. Seeking compensation for that use, Garcia-Bengochea sued the Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruises under the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act which creates a private right of action for ex-Cubans to try and claw back funds taken, or “trafficked in property which was confiscated” according to the act, by the communist country.