In total, between 12,000 and 16,000 businesses were reportedly affected directly or indirectly by the OVHcloud data center fire in March 2021, and some 3.6 million websites were temporarily taken offline on March 10, 2021. .
Will OVHcloud end up in court to face the consequences of the fire that devastated part of its data center in Strasbourg in March 2021? The question arises as several companies affected by the disaster are preparing a collective action against the French champion of the cloud in order to obtain compensation. 51 companies have now joined forces behind the Ziegler & Associés law firm. The latter hope to receive compensation that could reach 1.9 million euros.
In total, between 12,000 and 16,000 companies were affected directly or indirectly by the fire, and some 3.6 million websites were temporarily taken offline on March 10, 2021. According to Jocelyn Ziegler, one of the lawyers of the firm contacted by Digital last November, at least 1,000 companies reportedly lost all or most of their data in the incident.
Of the 120,000 services affected by the disaster, most have been restored, and the volume of litigation still in progress between the victim companies and OVHcloud is currently very low. But some companies believe that they are entitled to substantial compensation for the extent of the damage suffered, whether in terms of economic performance or image.
Amicable negotiations before a trial?
Last November, the firm Ziegler & Associés informed us of its intention to “Start an amicable contact” with OVHcloud with a view to launching negotiations, in which case the agreements would be kept confidential. In such a situation, Jocelyn Ziegler then anticipated compensation for March or April 2022. In the event that the Roubaix company refuses out-of-court negotiations, the firm planned to seize the civil jurisdiction of private law and, “This time, justice will be public”, warned the lawyer. Today, the cabinet said it expects to send an official letter at the end of March.
The companies behind this collective action blame OVHcloud in particular for its flaws concerning the backup, the data duplication plan or the disaster recovery plan. If several companies seem to have neglected the importance of having a backup of their data in a geographically remote location, Jocelyn Ziegler assured us in November that some of the participants in the class action had a duplication plan … in the same data center in Strasbourg. “That, the customers did not know, because OVH did not inform them”, explained the lawyer.
The four arguments of defense of OVHcloud swept away by the firm Ziegler & Associés
This morning, the Ziegler & Associés firm mentioned the four arguments put forward by OVHcloud to defend itself, one of the companies it supports having already attempted an action against the flagship of French Tech. The latter thus considers that“No fault would be attributable to him”, that he was confronted with “A case of force majeure”, that he would have “A limitation of liability clause”, and “OVHcloud’s liability excludes indirect damages”. So many arguments that do not hold for the cabinet, which denounces “Security failures, such as the installation of automatic fire extinguishers”. In May 2021, a report from Bureau Veritas, relayed by our colleagues from Journal du Net, also pointed out certain shortcomings concerning the fire safety of the place. “The security was not as strong as what current technology allows us”, estimated Jocelyn Ziegler.
The impacts resulting from the fire in Strasbourg and the charges linked to the OVHcloud IPO, carried out last October, weighed 56 million euros in fiscal year 2021, said the Roubaix company. It remains to be seen what the consequences of the disaster will be from a legal standpoint. Often put forward by the government to promote the French digital ecosystem, the group created by Octave Klaba plays part of its credibility and its image in this affair. A lawsuit could harm it in the short term, as OVHcloud struggles to nibble market share in a sector outrageously dominated by the American giants, Amazon in the lead.