Ira Kurzban, in addition to being the lead counsel for the plaintiff charter and travel companies in this case, worked for the Haitian government as legal counsel to President Aristide, 2000-2004.
He is the one who filed Haiti's case in French courts to get France to reimburse money it extorted from Haiti beginning in 1815 in return for a promise not to invade Haiti again. Haiti dutifully paid France and did not make the last payment until 1947. Haiti's lawsuit sought reimbursement for the the money extorted, but in today's money. This amounted to $22 billion dollars. No wonder the sister of French Foreign Minister, Dominique DeVillepin, was dispatched to Haiti in December 2003 to convince Aristide to resign. One could say that France had a good reason to participate in a coup to remove THEIR Aristide problem. A few days after the coup, the US-installed government withdrew the case from French courts.
magbana
IRA KURZBAN: Major victory for Cuba charter and travel companies
Posted by: "Walter Lippmann"
[email protected] walterlx
Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:09 pm (PDT)
Contact: Ira J. Kurzban, Esq. 305-444-0060
Press Conference: 2650 SW 27th Avenue, 2nd Fl
Tuesday, Apr. 14, 2009 at 2:30 PM
PRESS RELEASE
MAJOR VICTORY FOR CHARTER COMPANIES AND TRAVEL AGENCIES ENGAGED IN TRAVEL TO
CUBA
COURT REBUKES STATE OF FLORIDA’S UNCONSTITUTIONAL STATUTE
Today, April 14, 2009, the Honorable Alan Gold of the United States District
Court for the Southern District of Florida issued a final order striking
down the Florida Travel Act Amendments as unconstitutional and a violation
of the Supremacy Clause.
In 2008 the Florida legislature amended the Florida Travel Act in an attempt
to end travel to Cuba from Florida. The law imposed penalties on
Cuban-American travel agencies and charter companies doing business with
Cuba. Governor Crist signed the legislation. The law required travel
agencies engaged in travel to Cuba to post bonds that were 10 or 25 times
higher than those required of other travel agencies. It made any violation
of any state or federal law a third degree felony if it involved travel to
Cuba, but punished violators engaged in travel to other countries with
misdemeanors. It required far higher registration fees and imposed many
other onerous and punitive requirements on companies involved in the travel
business to Cuba.
In striking down the law, the Court cited the United States government’s
public opposition to the Florida statute. The Court found that the Florida
Travel Act amendments interfere with federal law and regulations, and the
foreign policy of the United States. Opinion at 8-9. The Court noted the
recent changes in U.S. policy in lifting travel restrictions to Cuba for
Cuban-Americans and in blunt terms stated:
“The State of Florida is not entitled to adopt a foreign policy under our
Constitution or interfere with the exclusive prerogative of the United
States to establish a carefully balanced approach to relations with foreign
countries, including Cuba.” Opinion at 10.
The Court entered a permanent injunction against the amendment and a
declaratory judgment declaring the law unconstitutional.
Ira J. Kurzban, lead counsel for Plaintiff charter companies and travel
agencies hailed the judge’s decision as a “clear, unequivocal statement,
that the Florida legislature has no business conducting its own foreign
policy. At a time when the state lacks resources, Florida legislators should
be focused on the issues that are important to Floridians instead of
spending hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to uphold clearly
unconstitutional laws such as the Travel Act amendments.”
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