In 1998, Final Analysis Communication Services Inc. was a small Maryland-based company that won one of four coveted FCC licenses to launch 30 low-orbit satellites into space. The fledgling company planned to provide cellular phone service, text messaging and satellite tracking services to the U.S. Too small to accomplish its goals alone, it turned to General Dynamics Corp. for funding and construction assistance. General Dynamics subsidiary General Dynamics Information Services agreed to a $30 million deal in order to help its parent company become a systems integrator.
But in 2001, as the telecom industry came crashing down, GDIS pulled out of the accord. FACS was thrust into bankruptcy and turned to the courts seeking damages of more than $500 million from General Dynamics. On July 19, 2005, the two companies took their contract dispute to Baltimore County court before Judge Peter Messittee, in Final Analysis Communications Services, Inc., Plaintiff and Counter-Defendant v. General Dynamics Corp. and General Dynamics Information Services, Inc., Defendants and Counter-Claimants, No. PJM 03-0307.
