After Verizon Communications sued Consolidated Edison over a damaged copper cable that Verizon later turned to scrap metal, a judge tossed the lawsuit on spoliation grounds.

Acting Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Nancy Bannon granted Con Ed’s dismissal motion, saying Verizon’s discarded, approximately 80-year-old cable was the case’s “singular most important piece of evidence,” and its absence left Con Ed “‘prejudicially bereft’ of the means of presenting their defense.”