Dish Loses Appeal of Sanctions for E-Mail Destruction

A Dish Network Corp. unit lost its appeal challenging sanctions imposed on the company for destroying e-mail evidence in a Cablevision Systems Corp. contract lawsuit.

A New York state appeals court in Manhattan today upheld a decision by the trial judge, Richard Lowe. The judge found in November 2010 that EchoStar Satellite LLC “systematically destroyed evidence in direct violation of the law.” He said he will tell jurors about the erased e-mails in a trial over claims by Cablevision’s defunct Voom unit that the Dish Network unit breached a contract. Jurors may assume the evidence would have been helpful to Cablevision, Lowe said.