The US Supreme Court declined Monday to review a challenge by India-based Tata Consultancy Services against a $168 million damages award favouring DXC Technology in a trade secrets dispute. The decision allows the judgment to stand following a lower court's affirmation of the penalty.
Tata had mounted an appeal after a judge determined that the company should pay $56 million in compensatory damages and $112 million in punitive damages to Virginia-based DXC. The Indian technology firm contended the damages fell outside acceptable parameters under US trade secrets law.
The case originated from a 2019 lawsuit filed in Dallas federal court by DXC, whose predecessor Computer Sciences Corp had licensed insurance software to Transamerica during the 1990s. DXC alleged that Tata hired approximately 2,200 Transamerica employees and exploited their familiarity with the proprietary platform to develop a rival life-insurance system. Tata maintained it had obtained the software lawfully and that the information was not genuinely confidential.
A jury determined in 2023 that Tata should pay $210 million for willfully taking DXC's trade secrets. US District Judge Brantley Starr subsequently reduced this to $168 million in 2024, a decision sustained by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2025.
Tata's primary objection centred on whether DXC could claim unjust enrichment—a core basis for the award—without demonstrating concrete financial harm. The company also challenged the punitive component as disproportionate. DXC argued the appellate court's ruling applied settled legal principles appropriately and required no further judicial examination.
