Justice Department Approves Delta-Northwest Merger
Client Alert | 1 min read | 10.31.08
On October 29, 2008, the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Antitrust Division announced that it was closing its six-month investigation on the proposed merger of Delta, the third largest U.S. airline, and Northwest, the fifth largest U.S. airline, after finding no antitrust objections. The DOJ stated that the proposed merger "is likely to produce substantial and credible efficiencies that will benefit U.S. consumers and is not likely to substantially lessen competition." Further, "[t]he two airlines currently compete with a number of other legacy and low cost airlines in the provision of scheduled air passenger service on the vast majority of nonstop and connecting routes where they compete with each others. In addition, the merger likely will result in efficiencies such as cost savings in airport operations, information technology, supply chain economics, and fleet optimization that will benefit consumers." Delta and Northwest had argued the deal would insulate the combined company from rising fuel costs that reached even the nation's biggest airlines. Justin Baer, Financial Times.
That same day, Delta Air Lines completed its $2.8 billion acquisition of Northwest to create the world's largest airline. The combined airline will keep Delta's name, Atlanta headquarters, and chief executive, Richard Anderson. News media speculated that a combined Delta-Northwest "may still pressure rivals such as United Airlines and American Airlines to pursue deals of their own" and that "the Delta-Northwest merger may serve as a template for other airlines." Financial Times.
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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future.
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