CrowdStrike shares plunge 9.7% to lowest level of the year on report that Delta may seek damages

CrowdStrike shares closed down about 9.7% on Tuesday at their lowest level of the year following a report that Delta Air Lines hired prominent attorney David Boies to seek damages from the security software vendor.

CrowdStrike fell $25.16 to $233.65 on Tuesday. The company has now lost one-third of its value since July 19, when a historic outage of Microsoft systems, caused by a software update from CrowdStrike, knocked numerous industries offline, including airlines.

Late Monday, CNBC’s Phil Lebeau reported that Delta hired Boies, chairman of Boies Schiller Flexner, to seek compensation from CrowdStrike and Microsoft. No suit has been filed, Lebeau reported, and Delta didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Delta is handling over 176,000 refund or reimbursement requests after almost 7,000 flights were canceled. The outages cost the airline an estimated $350 million to $500 million. 

The Department of Transportation said last week that it’s investigating Delta due to the widespread flight disruptions and service failures.

Boies is known for representing the U.S. government in its landmark antitrust case against Microsoft and for helping win a decision that overturned California’s ban on gay marriage. He also worked with Harvey Weinstein, the imprisoned former Hollywood mogul, and Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who is currently serving a prison sentence for defrauding investors.