Computer Sciences Corporation v. Tata Consultancy Services Limited

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS DALLAS DIVISION COMPUTER SCIENCES § CORPORATION, § § Plaintiff, § § Civil Action No. 3:19-CV-0970-X v. § § TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES § LIMITED, et al., § § Defendants. § MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Before the Court are Plaintiff Computer Sciences Corporation’s (“CSC”) request to seal certain trial exhibits (Doc. 433) and Third-Parties Transamerica Corporation and Money Services, Inc.’s (collectively, “Transamerica”) motion for leave to file under seal (Doc. 467). The Court has analyzed the proposed sealed documents line-by-line and page-by-page, weighing the public’s right of access against the interests favoring nondisclosure. After careful consideration, the Court GRANTS CSC’s request to seal certain trial exhibits and Transamerica’s motion. The Court will seal the admitted trial exhibits listed in Exhibit A.

I. Background Before trial, CSC requested that certain trial exhibits remain under seal and filed a declaration in support of that request. (Doc. 433). The declaration provided a detailed explanation for why each trial exhibit should be permanently sealed.

Transamerica also filed a motion for leave to file under seal requesting that certain additional trial exhibits remain under seal. (Doc. 467). The Court provisionally sealed the documents during the duration of trial and informed the parties that it would revisit whether the documents should permanently remain under seal following trial.

II. Legal Standard The Court takes very seriously its duty to protect the public’s access to judicial records.1 Transparency in judicial proceedings is a fundamental element of the rule of law—so fundamental that sealing and unsealing orders are immediately appealable under the collateral-order doctrine.2 The public’s right to access judicial records is independent from—and sometimes even adverse to—the parties’ interest.3 That’s why the judge must serve as the representative of the people and, indeed, the First Amendment, in scrutinizing requests to seal.

Litigants may very well have a legitimate interest in confidential discovery secured by a protective order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c). However, “[t]hat a document qualifies for a protective order under Rule 26(c) for discovery says nothing about whether it should be sealed once it is placed in the judicial record.”4 Here, the parties conducted discovery under a Rule 26(c) protective order and marked various documents “confidential.” But to seal documents on the judicial record involves a much more demanding standard.

1 See Binh Hoa Le v. Exeter Fin. Corp., 990 F.3d 410, 418 (5th Cir. 2021).

2 June Med. Servs. v. Phillips, 22 F.4th 512, 519 (5th Cir. 2022).

3 Id. Id. at 521.

“To decide whether something should be sealed, the court must undertake a document-by-document, line-by-line balancing of the public’s common law right of access against the interests favoring nondisclosure.”5 If the Court seals information, it must give sufficient reasons to allow for appellate review.6 Finally, “[p]ublicly available information cannot be sealed.”7 III. Analysis CSC’s sealing affidavit and Transamerica’s motion meet the heightened sealing standard. In the affidavit and motion, CSC and Transamerica were precise about what they wanted to seal: specific trial exhibits, attached hereto as Exhibit A.

Next, CSC and Transamerica did their part to explain why the risk of disclosure outweighs the public’s right to know because these exhibits disclose confidential commercial information and trade secrets and would cause competitive harm to their businesses. Upon careful review, the Court concludes that CSC and Transamerica met their burden of proving that the materials should be permanently sealed. As such, the Court orders that the trial exhibits listed in Exhibit A remain under seal.

IV. Conclusion Given that the Court finds that CSC and Transamerica met the heightened sealing standard, the Court GRANTS CSC’s request to seal certain trial exhibits (Doc. 433) and Transamerica’s motion (Doc. 467). The Court will maintain the admitted trial exhibits listed in Exhibit A under seal. The Court’s instructions are Id. (cleaned up).

6 Binh Hoa Le, 990 F.3d at 419.

7 June Med. Servs., 22 F.4th at 520. the result of a page-by-page, line-by-line analysis. Such analysis “is not easy, but it is fundamental” to securing the public’s right of access to judicial records.® IT ISSO ORDERED this the 15th day of December, 2023.

BRANTLE A, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE June Med. Servs., 22 F.4th at 521.

EXHIBIT A UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS DALLAS DIVISION COMPUTER SCIENCES § CORPORATION, § § Plaintiff, § § Civil Action No. 3:19-CV-0970-X v. § § TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES § LIMITED, et al., § § Defendants. § ADMITTED TRIAL EXHIBITS PERMANENTLY UNDER SEAL Exhibit Witness Date Admitted Concise Description of Exhibit No. Admitted PX094 First Amended and Restated Blazek 11.14.2023 Master Services Agreement Between Customer and Service Provider PX225 Transamerica Conversion Frieden 11.13.2023 Discovery Report (Integration) - BaNCS Migration Release 1.1 and Release 1.2 PX228 Email chain re Rate of Return Taute 11.8.2023 Calculation [TLS] PX319 Excel Spreadsheet - attachment to Pasupathy 11.9.2023 TCS-00284413 PX336 Email re Invitation: Reg: Setty 11.9.2023 Conversion Discovery (Week 3 Day 1) - technical sessions (Mar 26 08:00AM CDT in Webex/4050 Digital Cong Room) PX432 Discovery Phase - Transformation Frieden 11.13.2023 Discovery Kickoff PX474 CSC CyberLife Documentation, Taute 11.8.2023 97.01, 00.01, 01.01, 10.01 PX475 Vantage WV-1801 Documentation Taute 11.8.2023 Exhibit Witness Date Admitted Concise Description of Exhibit No. Admitted PX476 Wealth Management Accelerator Taute 11.8.2023 VANTAGE-ONE Technical Guide WV-1801 PX477 Wealth Management Taute 11.8.2023 Accelerator/VANTAGE-ONE Subsystems Guide WV-1801 PX478 Wealth Management Taute 11.8.2023 Accelerator/VANTAGE-ONE Common Reference Guide WV- 1801 PX479 CyberLife 14.01 Documentation Taute 11.8.2023 PX480 CyberLife Administration Billing Taute 11.8.2023 and Accounting Administration Collection User Series PX481 Vantage-One Release Notes Taute 11.8.2023 PX482 DXC Wealth Management Taute 11.8.2023 Accelerator/VANTAGE-ONE System Release WV-1801 PX483 DXC Wealth Management Taute 11.8.2023 Accelerator/VANTAGE-ONE System Release WV-1701 PX484 Wealth Management Accelerator Taute 11.8.2023 System Release WM-07.1.0 PX485 Wealth Management Accelerator Taute 11.8.2023 System Release WM-08.1.0 PX486 CSC Wealth Management Taute 11.8.2023 Accelerator / Vantage-One System Release WV-09.2.0 PX487 Wealth Management Accelerator Taute 11.8.2023 System Release WM-09.1.0 PX488 CSC Wealth Management Taute 11.8.2023 Accelerator / Vantage-One System Release WV-1501 PX489 CSC Wealth Management Taute 11.8.2023 Accelerator / Vantage-One System Release WV-1201 PX490 CSC Wealth Management Taute 11.8.2023 Accelerator / Vantage-One System Release WV-1601 Exhibit Witness Date Admitted Concise Description of Exhibit No. Admitted PX491 CSC Wealth Management Taute 11.8.2023 Accelerator / Vantage-One System Release WV-1001 PX492 Wealth Management Accelerator Taute 11.8.2023 System Release wmA 07.2.0 PX493 CSC Wealth Management Taute 11.8.2023 Accelerator / Vantage-One System Release WV-1401 PX494 DXC Wealth Management Taute 11.8.2023 Accelerator/VANTAGE-ONE System Release WV-1901 PX495 Vantage-One System Release V1- Taute 11.8.2023 06.1.0 / VS-06.1.0 PX496 CSC Wealth Management Taute 11.8.2023 Accelerator / Vantage-One System Release WV-1101 PX497 CyberLife 06.01 - 17.01 Taute 11.8.2023 Documentation PX498 Host Technical Data Taute 11.8.2023 PX499 Demonstration Taute 11.8.2023 PX500 Detailed Updates Taute 11.8.2023 PX501 System Problem Reports Taute 11.8.2023 PX502 Enhancement Descriptions Taute 11.8.2023 PX503 CyberLife 1001 Technical Taute 11.8.2023 Information PX505 Wealth Management Accelerator/ Taute 11.8.2023 VANTAGE-ONE, Annuities Business Rules Guide, WV-1401 PX506 CyberLife Reference Taute 11.8.2023 Documentation Enhancement and Improvement History 8402-1801 PX507 Vantage-One Table Guide Taute 11.8.2023 PX508 CyberLife Reference Taute 11.8.2023 Documentation Functions 1801 PX509 CyberLife Enterprise System: Taute 11.8.2023 CyberDOC Reference Library, 10.01 (error as sent to Tata) Exhibit Witness Date Admitted Concise Description of Exhibit No. Admitted PX510 CyberLife Enterprise System Taute 11.8.2023 Functions, Enterprise Collection Business Series PX511 Manual - CyberLife Enterprise Taute 11.8.2023 System – Functions PX514 Cyberlife Enterprise System - Taute 11.8.2023 Policy Record 00-49 Segments - Enterprise Collections Data Series PX515 Cyberlife Enterprise System - Taute 11.8.2023 Policy Record 50-99 Segments - Enterprise Collections Data Series PX517 Traditional Life Table Guide, V1- Taute 11.8.2023 05.1.0 PX519 CyberLife Enterprise System: Web Taute 11.8.2023 Components Transactions PX520 CSC Wealth Management Taute 11/8/2023 Accelerator Vantage-One Annuities Business Rules Guilde WV-1401 PX521 Vantage-One Technical Guide V-1 Setty 11.9.2023 Database & Tables 15.0 PX523 Cyberlife Enterprise System - Web Taute 11.8.2023 Component Transactions - Enterprise Collection System Series PX524 Cyberlife Enterprise System - Web Taute 11.8.2023 Component Transactions - Enterprise Collection System Series PX525 Cyberlife Enterprise System - Web Taute 11.8.2023 Component Transactions - Enterprise Collection System Series PX526 CyberLife 10.01 Documentation: Taute 11.8.2023 Cyberlife Web Components Source Installation Guide PX527 CyberLife 10.01 Documentation: Taute 11.8.2023 Cyberlife Web Components Security Setup Guide Exhibit Witness Date Admitted Concise Description of Exhibit No. Admitted PX529 CyberLife 10.01 Documentation: Taute 11.8.2023 Cyberlife Web Components Installation Guide PX530 CyberLife 10.01 Documentation: Taute 11.8.2023 Web Components Installation PX531 CyberLife 10.01 Documentation: Taute 11.8.2023 Cyberlife Enterprise System 1001 Release Documentation PX534 CSC Source Code – CSC Taute 11.8.2023 PX549 Cyberlife Overview – CSFL Wisely 11.14.2023 PX550 Cyberlife Overview – CUSTSCV Wisely 11.9.2023 PX551 Vantage-P65 Frieden 11.13.2023 PX552 Vantage-P75 Frieden 11.13.2023 DX0447 Service Agreement No. 75 (Project Verghese 11.15.2023 Chess - Due Diligence) DX0645 Project Chess Transamerica TPA Canfield 11.14.2023 Strategy Program DX0651 Project Chess Diligenta Site Visit Canfield 11.14.2023 DX0653 Transamerica - DXC Canfield 11.14.2023 Proposal - Solution Evaluation Service Provider Results - Summary