Faulting a trial judge’s mishandling of a discovery dispute, a state appeals court on Tuesday wiped out a $46 million award against Manhattan hedge fund Touradji Capital Management, and ordered a new trial in a decade-old legal battle involving two former portfolio managers who said they were stiffed on millions of dollars in performance bonuses.

A four-judge panel of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department unanimously held that a lower court judge went too far in sanctioning Touradji Capital for allegedly failing to turn over U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents in response to the plaintiffs’ pretrial demands.