An Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal was brought by the BBC's former Chief Technology Officer, John Linwood, when he lost his job in 2013 after the Corporation's £100m Digital Media Initiative failed. During the case an email from Purnell was cited in evidence, which read: "We need a clear line on Linwood on whether he is resigning or being fired and why". The tribunal's response to this was: "It was notable that there was no third option in Purnell's mind, such as a different disciplinary outcome." The tribunal found the BBC's processes to have given an "apparently cavalier disregard for any of the accepted norms of a fair disciplinary process", and that there was a "deeply ingrained cultural expectation within the organisation of sacrificial accountability". Linwood was awarded £80,000 in damages, and it was later revealed that the BBC had spent £498,000 defending the claim.