The United States Supreme Court rejected an appeal by India-based Tata Consultancy Services on Monday, clearing the way for the firm to pay $168 million to technology company DXC Technology over alleged theft of confidential information. The decision means a lower court's award, consisting of $56 million in compensatory damages and $112 million in punitive damages, will stand.
The dispute centres on life-insurance software originally developed by Computer Sciences Corporation, which later became part of DXC and is based in Ashburn, Virginia. DXC filed suit in Dallas federal court in 2019, claiming that Tata hired approximately 2,200 former Transamerica employees — the insurance company that had licensed the software — and leveraged their familiarity with the proprietary system to create a rival platform.
Tata maintained its innocence, asserting that the information in question was not proprietary and that any access to the software was lawful. The firm contended that American trade secret law did not permit the damages awarded by the court.
A jury rendered an advisory verdict in 2023 recommending $210 million in damages for willful misappropriation. Federal Judge Brantley Starr subsequently reduced this figure to $168 million in 2024. When Tata challenged the decision, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court's determination in 2025.
Tata's Supreme Court filing argued that DXC should not have recovered damages based on unjust enrichment without also demonstrating concrete financial losses. The firm further claimed the punitive component of the award was disproportionate. However, DXC countered that the appellate court had properly applied established legal principles and that the case did not merit Supreme Court intervention.
