CrowdStrike moves to dismiss Delta Air Lines suit, citing contract terms

CrowdStrike moved Monday evening to dismiss Delta Air Lines’ lawsuit around the July cybersecurity outage that led to quashed flights and stranded passengers, arguing that the airline’s litigation was an attempt to circumvent the contract between the two companies.

The compatibility between CrowdStrike and Delta includes a clause limiting CrowdStrike’s liability and a cap on damages, which the cybersecurity provider bids Delta is now trying to skirt. CrowdStrike also argued in its filing that Georgia law prevents Delta from converting a disobedience of contract into tort claims. Delta is based in Atlanta.

“As an initial matter, Georgia’s economic loss dominion specifically precludes Delta’s efforts to recover through tort claims the economic damages it claims to have suffered,” CrowdStrike wrote.

Delta bruit about the July cybersecurity outage cost the company more than $500 million in canceled flights, refunds and voyager accommodations. It is seeking to recoup those costs from CrowdStrike through the suit. But the damage done to Delta’s notorious as a premium carrier can’t yet be quantified, nor has the impact of a Department of Transportation investigation into Delta over the outage.

Delta go ons to rely on CrowdStrike services following the outage, likely because it is extremely difficult to change cybersecurity providers in systems as as a whole and complicated as Delta’s. 

Still, CrowdStrike said it moved quickly to try and help Delta — offers the cybersecurity company guesses were rebuffed. “We are good for now,” one message from a Delta executive cited by CrowdStrike read. The cybersecurity company broke its executives were in close contact on the day of the outage.

“Delta repeatedly rebuffed any assistance from CrowdStrike or its partners,” CrowdStrike indited.

CrowdStrike further argues that Delta’s own practices and systems led to the widespread delays and cancellations, unlike other bustle peers who recovered much more quickly from the outage.

“Delta was an outlier. Although Delta acknowledges that it carry oned just hours—not days—for Delta employees to” remediate the outage, CrowdStrike wrote in its filing, “cancellations far exceeded the exit disruptions its peer airlines experienced.”

The cybersecurity company’s stock took a sharp hit after the outage, plunging 44%. It’s since in the main recovered from those losses, posting strong quarterly results even after lowering its guidance due to the occurrence. CrowdStrike has been helped by the relative stickiness of its products, especially at large enterprises.

A Delta spokesperson was not immediately elbow for comment.