White House photo by Lawrence Jackson
The Supreme Court has rejected Alan Gross’ appeal in a $60 million lawsuit he filed against the U.S. government.
On Monday, the high court denied the appeal of the Jewish-American contractor, who spent five years in a Cuban prison.
Gross and his wife sued the U.S. government for negligence in 2012, saying it had sent him to Cuba without adequate support.
Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the federal government was immune from claims arising in a foreign country. A lower court originally rejected the suit.
Gross was released from prison in December as part of negotiations between the Obama administration and the Cuban government aimed at normalizing relations between the two countries.
Cuba had sentenced Gross to 15 years for providing Internet equipment to the local Jewish community under a program that the government found suspicious.
In a separate development, Gross will receive $3.2 million in a settlement reached with the U.S. Agency for International Development and DAI, a contractor for whom he worked.
– JTA News & Features
