REID COLLINS OBTAINS ELEVENTH CIRCUIT REVERSAL AND KEY PRECEDENT IN CLOSELY WATCHED HELMS-BURTON ACT CASE
On January 2, 2025, a panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously reversed a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida that had dismissed claims brought by Reid Collins’ client North American Sugar Industries, Inc. (“NAS”) under the Helms-Burton Act.
Prior to the Communist Revolution, NAS owned and operated a port in Cuba that the Castro regime confiscated. Under the Helms-Burton Act’s private right of action, NAS is asserting trafficking claims against a Chinese wind-energy company and a group of shipping and logistics companies that engaged in a scheme to traffic in NAS’s confiscated port, including by shipping wind turbines through the Port of Miami en route to Cuba. Before Reid Collins took over the case on appeal, the District Court dismissed all claims for lack of personal jurisdiction based on its holding that the only relevant conduct occurred in Cuba. In a published and precedential opinion, the Eleventh Circuit rejected this narrow view of what constitutes trafficking under the Act and instead endorsed the broad interpretation that NAS advanced on appeal, including that unlawful trafficking can encompass activities outside of Cuba. In remanding the action for further proceedings, the Eleventh Circuit additionally found that the District Court misapplied the legal and factual standards that apply to a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.
Congratulations to the Reid Collins trial team – Craig Boneau, Ryan Goldstein, Scott Saldana, Rob LaCroix, and Aaron Brown.
The Eleventh Circuit case is captioned North American Sugar Industries, Inc. v. Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd., et al., No. 23-10126 (11th Cir.).
A copy of the decision can be downloaded by clicking here.
REID COLLINS DESCRIBED AS “THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS” AND “SECOND TO NONE” IN LATEST BEST LAWYERS® “BEST LAW FIRMS” RANKINGS
Reid Collins & Tsai has once again been recognized as one of the top litigation and trial firms in the nation by U.S. News-Best Lawyers® in its 2025 Edition of the Best Law Firms rankings.
The firm received Best Law Firm honors for its work in multiple practice areas both nationally and regionally. The rankings include:
Dallas-Fort Worth
- Tier 1 – Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
- Tier 1 – Commercial Litigation
- Tier 1 – Litigation – Bankruptcy
New York City
- Tier 1 – Litigation – Bankruptcy
- Tier 3 – Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
National
- Tier 3 – Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
- Tier 3 – Litigation – Bankruptcy
The “Best Law Firms” research process also includes detailed client interviews. For the 2025 edition, clients described Reid Collins as “second to none…unparalleled litigators…for any litigation engagement, particularly on the plaintiff side…. honest, smart and pragmatic…the best bankruptcy litigation firm in the business…they handle cases aggressively but efficiently and always in the best interests of the client.”
Click here to view the firm’s various national and regional rankings and full client comments.
BENCHMARK LITIGATION RECOGNIZES REID, TSAI AND MADDEN AS AMONG THE TOP TRIAL LAWYERS IN THE NATION
In its 2024-25 rankings, Benchmark Litigation has profiled the firm’s senior partners – William T. Reid, IV, Lisa S. Tsai, and Eric D. Madden – as among the top commercial trial lawyers in the country.
Reid, who Benchmark Litigation’s editorial analysis describes as enjoying “a far-reaching reputation as an all-purpose trial lawyer equipped to handle any case,” was selected to its list of the nation’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers for the sixth consecutive year.
Tsai, profiled by the publication for successfully leading a “suit on behalf of a partner and co-founder of private-equity entity Emerald Lake Capital Management against several individuals [] alleged to have engaged in a bad-faith scheme to confiscate [her] valuable partnership interest,” was named to its list of the nation’s Top 250 Women in Litigation for the third consecutive year.
Madden was profiled as a Litigation Star for, among other things, successfully recovering $175 million for the Insys Liquidation Trust (successor to Insys Therapeutics), after the company’s illegal off-label marketing scheme led it to bankruptcy. He was described by clients as “a very strategic thinker and extremely thorough.”
Benchmark Litigation surveys the landscape and honors the leading litigators and firms across the United States for their achievements. The annual rankings and lists are the culmination of months of research, surveying thousands of referees, and interviewing hundreds of lawyers.
Click here to see Benchmark Litigation’s editorial analysis of Reid, Tsai, and Madden, and click here to see all the Reid Collins practitioners honored this year.
