Southwest Airlines will pay one cent in nominal damages to a politically conservative activist group to end litigation over Southwest’s now-discontinued charitable flight program for low-income Hispanic students, a U.S. district judge in Dallas ordered Thursday.
Senior U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater previously issued an order signaling his intention to award Edward Blum’s American Alliance for Equal Rights nominal damages of one cent and require the Dallas-based airline to pay reasonable legal fees and court costs after Southwest offered what the judge described as an “unconditional surrender” to all the relief sought by AAER.
On Wednesday, lawyers for both parties filed a joint response stating they would not oppose the judge’s plan. The lawyers also stated they had reached a confidential settlement on the amount of attorney fees and other costs to be paid by Southwest.
Last month, lawyers for Southwest asked the judge to enter a judgment ordering the airline to pay one cent — the amount in damages the AAER had sought — and reasonable costs and attorneys’ fees to end the litigation. Southwest discontinued the program called “¡Lánzate!” — meaning “Take off!” — after AAER sued Southwest on behalf of a white student and an Asian student who claimed they were illegally denied the program’s benefits.
Before the judge signaled his intent to end the lawsuit, AAER accused Southwest of trying to sidestep liability for violating federal discrimination law and urging the judge to decide the case on its merits.
But the judge wrote in his May 14 opinion that forgoing the merits “is an appropriate exercise of inherent authority because Southwest has unconditionally surrendered, and the entry of such judgment would grant Alliance total victory.”
The case is American Alliance for Equal Rights v. Southwest Airlines, Northern District of Texas, Case No. 3:24-CV-1209.
The AAER is represented by Cameron T. Norris, Thomas R. McCarthy, Steven D. Begakis and R. Gabriel Anderson of Consovoy McCarthy and Adam K. Mortara of Lawfair.
Southwest Airlines is represented by Tristan Morales, Kimberly Williams and Anton Metlitsky of O’Melveny & Myers.