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High Court Rejects Appeal From Subcontractor Freed From Cuba

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from a former government subcontractor seeking to sue the U.S. government for negligence over his five-year imprisonment in Cuba.

The justices on Monday let stand a federal appeals court ruling that threw out Alan Gross' $60 million lawsuit blaming the federal government for failing to prepare him for the risks of working in Cuba.

Gross was freed in December as the U.S. announced it would re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba. He was working as a U.S. Agency for International Development subcontractor in Cuba when he was arrested in 2009.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled last year that the U.S. government is immune from claims arising in a foreign country.

(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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