Summary Scott+Scott Attorneys have begun a investigation whether Delta Air Lines and its management have failed to properly manage the company during and after the global IT outage. In almost a week, Delta Air Lines canceled over 7,000 flights, alleging a negative impact of $500 million. While Delta Air Lines, CrowdStrike, and Microsoft's counsels have exchanged bitter letters, three passengers have already filed a class action lawsuit against the carrier.
Scott+Scott Attorneys, a United States-based law firm that focuses on antitrust, securities and consumer litigation, and corporate governance, has launched an investigation into whether Delta Air Lines’ leadership breached its duties. Echoes of the CrowdStrike IT outage In a statement, Scott+Scott stated that it has been investigating whether members of the airline’s board or senior management had failed to manage the company in an acceptable manner, potentially breaching their fiduciary duties to Delta Air Lines . Furthermore, the law firm will investigate whether this failure resulted in the carrier’s shareholders suffering damages.
Scott+Scott highlighted that on July 23, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) began its investigation into the Delta Air Lines week-long meltdown following the global IT outage on July 19. Thus, the law firm invited shareholders to explore whether they have any legal claims against Delta Air Lines. Pete Buttigieg's letter was a warning to airline CEOs that they have to respect the rules enacted with the FAA Reauthorization Act.
Sued by passengers Meanwhile, three passengers have already moved to sue Delta Air Lines in a potential class-action lawsuit. The trio filed a lawsuit at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia of the Atlanta division , requesting a trial by jury against the airline over the operational meltdown that occurred in late July. The lawsuit alleged that while other airlines had restored their services within a few days, Delta Air Lines continued to cancel flights for nearly a week.
“By the end of the weekend, nearly every airline had managed to recover and resume normal operations. Delta, however, did not resume normal operations.” The passengers added that while the airline said that by July 25, its operations returned to normal, travelers continued to report disruptions up to July 31, nearly two weeks after the global IT outage.
According to data Flightradar24 previously provided to Simple Flying, airlines canceled 16,334 flights in the US between July 19 and July 21. Delta Air Lines canceled 7,047 flights between July 19 and July 24, which included flights canceled by its regional affiliates operating under the Delta Connection brand. No new flight is being allowed to take off for now.
Counsels exchanging allegations However, those were not the only legal problems that Delta Air Lines has faced following the meltdown. On August 8, the airline disclosed in a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that it was taking legal action against CrowdStrike and Microsoft to recover damages that totaled at least $500 million. Before the airline filed the document with the US SEC, CrowdStrike’s counsel responded to Delta Air Lines in a letter on August 4, claiming that while the cybersecurity firm was sorry about the outage that it had caused, it was disappointed by the carrier’s suggestions that it was negligent or that it had committed willful misconduct.
The August 4 letter added that CrowdStrike’s chief executive officer (CEO) had attempted to reach out to Delta Air Lines’ CEO, yet the assistance offer was ignored. In a separate letter, Microsoft’s counsel alleged a similar story: despite the company’s CEO reaching out to Ed Bastian, the CEO of Delta Air Lines, the executive ignored the offers to help the airline. The counsel of CrowdStrike asked why Delta Air Lines' competitors had managed to restore operations much quicker following the IT meltdown.
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