Fine By US Court on TCS in Epic Systems Case Halved to $140 Million

Tata Consultancy Services on July 4 said that the punitive damages levied on the company in the EPIC Systems Corporation case in the US has been lowered to $140 million.

"The US District Court for Western District of Wisconsin passed an order reducing the jury award of punitive damages to $140 million and directed the Clerk of the Court to file an amended judgement accordingly," TCS said in a stock exchange filing.

A trade secret lawsuit had been filed against TCS and Tata America International Corp by Epic System in 2014, in which the latter alleged the Tata group companies stole its intellectual property to develop its own product. Epic had alleged that TCS, which had been hired to implement healthcare software stole 6,000 files with a fake ID by posing as a staff member rather than a consultant.

TCS had been found guilty by a jury in 2016 and awarded damages of $940 million to Epic Systems. A year later, in October 2017, the Wisconsin court brought the compensatory and punitive damages down to $420 million — . $280 million in punitive damages and $140 in compensatory damages. The punitive damages were then held to be excessive after TCS appealed it with the US Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit, Chicago, and the trial court was told to reassess it. This punitive damage has now been reduced by the US District Court for Western District of Wisconsin to $140 million.

"TCS is legally advised that it has strong arguments in its favor before the Appeal Court and the Order on the punitive damages are not supported by the facts presented by TCS before the Trial Court. We have been advised that the Order and the Judgement (when issued) is appealable to the US Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit Chicago," TCS said in the filing.

It claimed it did not "misuse or derive any benefit from EPIC's documents" and will defend its position before the appeals court.