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The Department of Justice (“DOJ”), six state
Attorneys General and the District of Columbia
filed a lawsuit to challenge the merger in
August 2013. The Court overseeing this lawsuit
appointed the Special Master to oversee
discovery, including discovery disputes. (see
What Made Texas Attorney General Drop Lawsuit
Against American Airlines Merger?)
US Airways and American Airlines and DOJ
exchanged requests for production of documents
and interrogatories in late August and engaged
in numerous “meet and confer” sessions
addressing the discovery sought. The U.S.
Department of Justice and US Airways and
American Airlines each turned over thousands of
documents.
On September 20, US Airways and American
Airlines as part of the pre-trial discovery
process filed a motion to Compel DOJ to 1)
turnover the names of third parties that DOJ
interviewed before filing the lawsuit, and 2)
turnover the documents from DOJ’s review of four
previous airline mergers between 2005 and 2011
in which the Justice department did not
challenge those mergers (the 2005 merger between
US Airways and America West, 2008 merger between
Delta and Northwest Airlines, 2010 merger
between United and Continental, and the 2011
merger between Southwest Airlines and AirTran).
Special Master Richard Levie has recommended to
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that
the carriers be denied access to those documents
with exceptions see
Special
Master filing 1 and
Special
Master filing 2. The District Judge will
decide whether to accept Levie’s
recommendations. In response to Levie’s
recommendations American and US Airways in a
joint statement said, “We are reviewing the
special master’s ruling and will consider all of
our options. We are confident in our legal
position and our ability to win this case.”
Update – October 14, 2013 - American Airlines and US
Airways reported today that neither carrier will
appeal Special Master, Richard Levie’s
recommendations to the court. American Airlines
and US Airways said they were confident they can
beat the government's lawsuit even without the
information.
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