BA in double court victory on cartels and IT meltdown

BRITISH Airways has scored two major legal victories in the space of just a few weeks.

After a 20-year cartel case, an accuser was told it could only claim for a limited period.

And US outsourcing giant CBRE agreed a payout for the IT meltdown that left tens of thousands of BA passengers stranded at Heathrow in May 2017, costing BA £56 million.

The Mail on Sunday revealed last year that the High Court claim had been launched.

In the cartel case, South American flower producers supplying UK supermarkets sued BA for fixing prices for air cargo. The cartel ran from 1999 to 2006 and was revealed by a whistleblower, with 11 airlines fined €799 million (£700 million) in 2010 by the European Union. BA was told to pay £90 million. It followed a £174 million settlement with US authorities. Class actions valued at £3.6 billion followed, though it is not known how much has been paid out.

BA settled claims with four of five firms late last year, after a judge accused both sides of wasting court time.

Then, last week, a High Court judge told Colombian exporter La Gaitana Farms that any claim could only be considered for the period from 2004 to 2006.

The trial took a bizarre turn three years ago when presiding judge Mr Justice Peter Smith used the case to complain 33 times to BA’s lawyers about bags the airline had lost on a personal trip.