Files pertaining to Hawaiian Airlines’ lawsuit against Mesa Air Group were accidentally erased by the Phoenix-based regional’s CFO while he was deleting pornographic content from work computers, attorney Maxwell Blecher reportedly argued in court yesterday.
According to local media reports in Hawaii, where the trial is taking place, Blecher alleged that CFO George “Peter” Murnane visited adult web sites and was trying to hide his indiscretion, not delete information that could be damaging to Mesa.
Hawaiian claims that Murnane engaged in “willful and deliberate spoliation of evidence that existed on three of his computers” during the weeks and months that followed the commencement of Hawaiian’s breach-of-contract suit against Mesa.
The Honolulu-based carrier alleges that Mesa used confidential business information about Hawaiian to launch low-cost inter-island carrier Go last year.
Mesa last week put Murnane on administrative leave for up to 90 days, saying it is investigating potential misconduct involving the company’s ongoing litigation with Hawaiian.
Blecher was not immediately available for comment. The secretary of Murnane’s attorney Brook Hart says Hart has “no comment”.
A Mesa spokesman says the company does not comment on pending litigation. Hawaiian could not be immediately reached.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
