Cognizant’s Punitive Award in $855 Million Trade Secrets Win Cut

Syntel Inc. convinced a New York federal judge to slash the punitive damages portion of a jury’s $855 million trade secrets award to a Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. unit.

The Cognizant subsidiary, the TriZetto Group Inc., can either let the court halve the $570 million punitive portion of the award, or the court will grant Syntel’s request for a new trial on punitive damages, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said.

Syntel, a Atos SE subsidiary, convinced the court to find the award excessive because its “reprehensible conduct” was not “egregious.” The court also ruled ...