American imprisoned in Cuba sues ex-employer, US

Posted on Friday, 11.16.12

American imprisoned in Cuba sues ex-employer, US
By JESSICA GRESKO
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- An American imprisoned in Cuba for nearly three years is
suing his former Maryland employer and the United States government for
$60 million, saying they didn't adequately train him or disclose risks
he was undertaking by doing development work on the Communist island.

Alan Gross and his wife Judy sued Friday in federal court in Washington.
The lawsuit alleges that the economic development company Gross was
working for in Cuba and the U.S. government, with which the company had
a contract, failed to provide Gross "with the education and training
that was necessary to minimize the risk of harm to him."

Gross, 63, was arrested in December 2009 while on his fifth trip to Cuba
as part of a project to increase the availability of Internet access in
the country. He was working as a subcontractor for Development
Alternatives Inc., an economic development company based in Bethesda, Md.

The company, known as DAI, was working for the U.S. government agency
that provides economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide, the U.S.
Agency for International Development. USAID has been criticized by Cuba
for seeking to promote democratic change on the island, and Cuba says
its programs are a veiled attempt by Washington to undermine the government.

The lawsuit alleges that Gross expressed concern about his project
several times but was pressured by DAI to "finish the project or to find
someone else who would." When the U.S. government learned of Gross'
concerns, officials also did nothing, the lawsuit says.

A spokesman for DAI said Friday the company was reviewing the lawsuit
and would comment after finishing a review. State Department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland said Friday she was not aware of the lawsuit and had no
immediate comment.

"This is very risky business in no uncertain terms," Gross wrote in a
report to DAI after a third trip to the island in 2009, the lawsuit says.

He repeated the same sentiment in a report after his fourth trip,
writing essentially the same sentence in bold.

Gross' wife Judy, who now lives in Washington, has previously said that
her husband feels he was misled by DAI. Judy Gross said in a 2011
interview with The Associated Press that her husband wanted reassurance
that what he was doing was legal, but the company refused to contact
Cuban officials and refused to let him contact anyone either.

The Cuban government tightly controls access to the Internet in the
country. Most access is dial-up and goes to an island intranet, rather
than the full worldwide web. According to government statistics, only
2.9 percent of islanders had direct Internet access last year. The true
figure is probably between 5 and 10 percent considering under-the-table
sales of dial-up minutes.

Gross was tried in a Cuban court on charges of crimes against the state
and sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2011. In previously released
testimony from the trial Gross called himself a "trusting fool."

"I was duped. I was used. And my family and I have paid dearly for
this," he said.

Diplomatic efforts to win Gross' release have so far failed.

"At this time, there are no indications that Mr. Gross will return to
his family within the next decade," the lawsuit says.

Gross' health has also declined in prison. He has lost more than 100
pounds and earlier this year developed a mass behind his right shoulder
that an American doctor has said should be assumed to be cancerous
unless proven harmless.

Gross' lawyer in the lawsuit, Scott Gilbert, said Friday in a written
statement that the conduct of the government and DAI was "an utter
disgrace."

Also on Friday, Gross and his wife filed an approximately $10 million
lawsuit in federal court in Maryland against the New Jersey-based
Federal Insurance Company. DAI had purchased an insurance policy from
the company that included a "wrongful detention policy" that covers
Gross' imprisonment in Cuba.

The lawsuit says the company breached its contract by failing to pay
expenses of the Gross family that are covered by the policy including
legal fees and medical expenses. The lawsuit also says the insurance
company has paid $2.3 million of the $5 million policy limit, some of it
to DAI.

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Follow Jessica Gresko at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Matthew Lee in Washington and
Peter Orsi in Havana contributed to this report

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/16/3100752/american-imprisoned-in-cuba-sues.html