Law360 (June 11, 2020, 5:02 PM EDT) — Defense giant Northrop Grumman Corp. must pay KST Data Inc. $3.6 million for failing to break a purchasing agreement when the computer hardware reseller fell under a government investigation, a California federal judge ordered.

When Northrop balked at buying inventory while KST went through a government investigation, it should have stated that it was ending the purchasing agreement, rather than allowing the reseller to continue shelling out millions of dollars for equipment Northrop claimed it needed, U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald ruled Wednesday.

“Northrop may have wished, in hindsight, that such a situation would allow it to terminate the [contract]…