U.S. Court Reduces Damages Against TCS To $140 Million In Epic Systems Case

A U.S. court has reduced punitive damages against Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. in a trade secrets case with American software firm Epic Systems Corp.

“The U.S. District Court for Western District of Wisconsin passed an order reducing the jury award of punitive damages to $140 million,” India's largest software services exporter said in an exchange filing.

In 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit, Chicago, had upheld compensatory damages of $140 million and directed reassessment of punitive damage of $280 million against TCS. The punitive damages award of $280 million was “constitutionally excessive”, it had then held, directing the trial court to reassess the punitive damages.

TCS, the filing said, is “legally advised that it has strong arguments in its favour before the appeal court and the order on the punitive damages are not supported by the facts presented by TCS before the trial court”. The order, it said, is appealable to the superior court.

Epic had dragged TCS to court arguing that it gained access to the trade secrets when it hired the Indian IT company and its U.S. subsidiary to help set up its systems at a medical facility.