A federal judge yesterday dismissed a lawsuit by Philip Falcone's Harbinger Capital Partners that accused satellite TV company Dish Network Corp and its chairman, Charles Ergen, of illegally trying to strip the hedge fund of control of the bankrupt wireless company LightSquared, Reuters reported yesterday. The dismissal by U.S. District Judge William Martinez in Denver came after LightSquared on March 26 won approval from a federal bankruptcy judge in New York to end its chapter 11 case and repay Ergen, its largest creditor. Harbinger, which Falcone founded, last July sued Dish and Ergen for at least $1.5 billion in damages, after they allegedly ran a fraudulent scheme to acquire LightSquared spectrum at "bargain basement prices." The defendants were accused of violating the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act after Ergen amassed a large amount of LightSquared debt, potentially getting a veto over any reorganization. In yesterday’s decision, Judge Martinez said Harbinger could have pursued its civil claims in a 2013 lawsuit it filed in the bankruptcy court. He said that the claims did not belong before him because courts prefer to avoid "claim splitting," and to have all claims arising from one set of facts addressed in a single lawsuit.
