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In May 2025, a Georgia state court judge allowed Delta Air Lines to proceed with its lawsuit against cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike. The case revolves around a software malfunction in July 2024 that led to the cancellation of approximately 7,000 flights by Delta.
The lawsuit, filed in Fulton County Superior Court, includes allegations of negligence and digital trespassing. Judge Kelly Lee Ellerbe dismissed Delta's fraud claims but permitted the remaining claims to continue. Michael Carlinsky, external counsel for CrowdStrike from Quinn Emanuel law firm, has expressed skepticism about Delta securing significant financial compensation from the litigation. He noted that Georgia law limits potential damages due to contractual terms between Delta and CrowdStrike.
Delta estimates its losses from the outage at $500 million, covering various expenses like crew reshuffling and passenger rebooking. However, attempts by Delta to claim extra-contractual losses have been rejected by the courts.
