Exxon’s Property Lawsuit Against Cuban Firm Needs Another Look

Corporación CIMEX SA will have another chance to argue that Exxon Mobil Corp. is precluded from accusing the Cuba-owned company of using Exxon’s confiscated property to refine crude oil and operate gas stations, the D.C. Circuit said Tuesday.

A lower court denied CIMEX’s motion to dismiss Exxon’s lawsuit, ruling that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act—which generally bars lawsuits against foreign states in US courts—didn’t bar Exxon’s claims. The FSIA’s commercial exception allowed the suit to continue, the US District Court for the District of Columbia found.

But the district court’s commercial exception analysis was inadequate, Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan of ...