Delta Hires David Boies for Major Lawsuit Over CrowdStrike and Microsoft Outage

Delta Airlines has enlisted a prominent attorney, David Boies, to pursue damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft for a significant outage that initiated widespread disruptions earlier this month. The incident, which occurred on July 19, was correlated to a software update from CrowdStrike, resulting in a severe outage in all Microsoft systems. This failure seriously impacted numerous industries, with airlines bearing the brunt of the disruption.

Delta Airlines, which experienced thousands of flight cancellations and widespread service failures, estimates the financial fallout from the outage to be between $350 million and $500 million. The airline is seeking compensation from CrowdStrike and Microsoft, although no formal lawsuit has yet been filed.

The outage led to a considerable drop in CrowdStrike's stock, which fell 5% in after-hours trading. Despite the turbulence in the market, Microsoft's stock remained relatively stable. Delta's recovery efforts include managing over 176,000 refund requests and addressing the fallout from nearly 7,000 canceled flights.

David Boies, renowned for its high-profile legal battles, including antitrust cases against Microsoft and representation in major civil rights cases, will spearhead Delta's legal strategy. Meanwhile, insurance startup Parametrix estimated that the outage's broader financial impact on Fortune 500 companies could reach $5.4 billion, excluding Microsoft's losses.

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