HONOLULU — A federal judge ruled in favor yesterday of Hawaiian Airlines to the tune of $80 million, stating go! airlines used bankruptcy information to garner an illegal advantage. After a three week trial, Judge Robert Farias found that Mesa
HONOLULU — A federal judge ruled in favor yesterday of Hawaiian Airlines to the tune of $80 million, stating go! airlines used bankruptcy information to garner an illegal advantage.
After a three week trial, Judge Robert Farias found that Mesa Air Group kept confidential information it was supposed to destroy or return to Hawaiian Airlines in accordance with a signed confidentiality agreement; misused the information it kept, including allowing it to be a determining factor on whether to enter the Hawai‘i market.
Mesa and Hawaiian Airlines were involved in a deal when the Phoenix-based upstart company allegedly failed to return bankruptcy documents to the financially strapped airline.
After the information exchange, Mesa tapped into the Hawai‘i market on its own, grew within the interisland industry and capitalized on Hawaiian Airlines’ stability loss, court documents allege.
The award, which included damages through October 2007, also ordered Mesa to pay Hawaiian’s costs of litigation and reasonable attorneys’ fees.
The court fell short of awarding damages for any injury Hawaiian Airlines could experience in the future as a result of Mesa’s misconduct; it also didn’t rule in favor of Hawaiian Airlines’ request to ban Mesa from selling tickets for one year.
