Years Later, ICO Wins Ruling Against Boeing in Satellite Contract Lawsuit

ICO Global Communications has been waiting four years for victory. Last week, the Reston-based satellite company got it.

A California jury decided Boeing must pay at least $370 million for breaching a contract to build and launch satellites for ICO. After a four-week trial, Los Angeles jurors sided with ICO's argument that Boeing unfairly demanded additional money to complete and launch the satellites, which ICO ordered to supply Internet connections to cellphones and other mobile devices.

The award does not include punitive damages, a subject the jury is set to take up this week.

Boeing said it would appeal the decision. J. Michael Luttig, a Boeing senior vice president, told the Associated Press that there were "fundamental errors in the conduct of the trial," including jury instructions and the judge's interaction with the jury during deliberations.

The decision is the latest development in a saga that dates to the mid-1990s. Back then, ICO had hired Hughes Electronics to build and launch a dozen satellites. Boeing acquired Hughes in 2000 and inherited the contract. But only a few of the satellites had been finished, and Boeing's launch plan was unsuccessful, ICO said.

Also in 2000, ICO was brought out of bankruptcy protection by cellphone industry pioneer Craig McCaw. In 2004, ICO sued Boeing, seeking $1.5 billion in damages, plus interest and punitive damages.

The disputes "had a dramatic impact on our ability to launch a more robust international service," said ICO chief executive Tim Bryan. "It was very harmful to ICO that those satellites were not launched."

In April, ICO launched its own satellite designed to beam about a dozen TV channels for mobile devices and TV screens in cars. Trials will begin in Las Vegas and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., by the end of the year.

-- Kim Hart