Opinion ID: 490523
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Assumption Assumption

Text: 41 We treat first the proposition that in Resolution No. 1 Cuba assumed all of the liabilities of Cuban Electric and thereby became obligated to pay the debts of that company to foreign and domestic creditors alike. This hypothesis, though implausible in light of the expressed desire of Cuba to seize the wealth of United States entities and reserve it for the Cuban people, has some support, as the district court found, in the language of Resolution No. 1. 42 Assuming that there was such an assumption, however, it is plain that the obligations thereby assumed were repudiated with respect to United States creditors. The district court found that defendants had never been paid, and it is conceded that since the appropriation none of Cuban Electric's United States creditors have been paid. Indeed, Banco Nacional argues, in an effort to have Cuba avoid contract liability, that if there was originally an all-inclusive assumption of liabilities, it was swiftly modified to exclude liabilities representing debts owed to United States nationals. Yet even on the hypothesis that Cuba assumed all of Cuban Electric's liabilities, defendants' rights to prevail on these counterclaims do not rest solely on principles of contract law. 43 As discussed above, international law makes a state liable for a repudiation of its contract with a foreign national if that repudiation was discriminatory, i.e., if it repudiated as to all aliens or as to all aliens of that nationality. There is no indication in the record that the assumption of liability for debts owing to Cuban creditors was ever repudiated. Since it has not paid United States creditors, it is clear that Cuba's partial repudiation of its assumption was discriminatory. Thus, if it assumed all of Cuban Electric's liabilities, Cuba is responsible under international law for the injury caused to defendants by the discriminatory repudiation of the obligation to repay debts to United States creditors. 44