Big news this afternoon for former TWA pilots.

The group sued the Air Line Pilots Association in 2002 — claiming that ALPA had not fairly represented them during the American Airlines/TWA merger. The pilots argued that ALPA had acted in bad faith in regard to negotiations with the Allied Pilots Association (which represents pilots at American) and the eventual seniority list that was created.

Today a federal district court jury in New Jersey ruled in the pilot group’s favor, as it agreed the Air Line Pilots Association had “violated its duty of fair representation” to the TWA pilot group.

In addition, the jury agreed with the pilots that ALPA’s violation of its DFR “directly caused injury to some of the TWA pilots.”

That opens the door to — damages.

As of now, the amount and extent of damages has not been determined.

Great day for the former TWA pilots. Not such a good day for ALPA.