According to a recent posting by The Wall Street Journal, cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike is pushing back against Delta Airlines and claims that it was not responsible for the airline’s days-long outage. CrowdStrike calls the $500 million lawsuit meritless. Despite hiring prominent lawyer David Boise, Delta Airlines will allegedly face some difficult questions.
“Should Delta pursue this path, Delta will have to explain to the public, its shareholders, and ultimately a jury why CrowdStrike took responsibility for its actions—swiftly, transparently, and constructively—while Delta did not,” wrote Michael Carlinsky, an attorney at law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. Despite the airlines being hit the hardest, Delta’s competitors were able to get back on their feet much faster, only being offline for a couple of days, while Delta continued to have problems well into the following week.
Delta Chief Executive Ed Bastian explained in an interview on CNBC last week that it plans to recover the $500 million in lost revenue and compensation costs. In an effort to recover its losses, Delta has already hired the Litigation firm Boies Schiller Flexner to help. However, Delta’s recovery time resulted in a U.S. regulator investigating why it failed to recover as fast as other airlines.
CrowdStrike sent an apology letter to Delta, implying it was “highly disappointed by Delta’s suggestion that CrowdStrike acted inappropriately and strongly rejects any allegation that it was grossly negligent or committed misconduct.”
A spokesman also implied that CrowdStrike hopes that Delta will consider working together to resolve any arising problems. The letter also mentions that “any liability by CrowdStrike is contractually capped at an amount in the single-digit millions.”
Time will tell how the situation evolves, but it’s unlikely that a $10 apology voucher will fix it soon.
