A court-imposed sanction against Echo Star for “egregious” conduct in destroying e-mail evidence may jeopardize the company’s defense of a $2.5 billion contract suit.
The decision, which was made public Nov. 9, also highlights EchoStar’s history of punishments for breaking the rules in other court cases.
“EchoStar has systematically destroyed evidence in direct violation of the law and in the face of a ruling by a federal court that criticized EchoStar for the same bad- faith conduct,” New York state Judge Richard Lowe wrote in an opinion in the case, filed in 2008 by Voom HD Holdings, a unit of Cablevision Systems.
Lowe said EchoStar erased e-mails Voom could have used to help prove its claims. As punishment, Lowe said he will tell jurors that EchoStar destroyed evidence and that the jury may assume the evidence would have been helpful to Voom’s case.
EchoStar spokeswoman Kathy Miller and Cablevision spokeswoman Kim Kerns declined to comment.
The ruling comes in a suit by Voom that seeks $2.5 billion in damages from Echo Star’s alleged breach of a 15-year distribution agreement.
The 2005 contract called for Voom to provide 21 high-definition television channels to EchoStar, which at the time operated the Dish Network, the second-biggest provider of satellite television in the U.S., after DirecTV.
EchoStar and Dish became separate companies in 2008 when EchoStar Communications changed its name to Dish Network, focusing on satellite television, and spun off EchoStar Corp. EchoStar provides Dish with the technology it uses to provide satellite television to its customers, Dish said on its website.
Both companies are based in Douglas County.
