Case Explained: DEQUE SYSTEMS INC. Plaintiff – v. BROWSERSTACK, INC.; BROWSERSTACK SOFTWARE PVT, LTD Defendants – Appellees and BROWSERSTACK LIMITED

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Filed: 2026-06-05 The Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment granting summary judgment to BrowserStack on all of Deque Systems Inc.’s claims. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding Deque’s evidence regarding monetary damages under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(c)(1) because Deque repeatedly failed to provide a computation of damages or supporting documents as required by Rule 26(a), and this failure was neither substantially justified nor harmless. Applying the *Southern States Rack & Fixture* factors, the court found that BrowserStack was surprised by the late disclosure of a $30 million damages claim, could not cure the surprise without significant docket disruption, and that Deque offered no explanation for its noncompliance. Furthermore, the court rejected Deque’s argument that the exclusion of damages evidence mandated the application of *Wilson* factors (including bad faith) because the district court’s ruling was a two-step process: first excluding evidence under Rule 37(c)(1), and then separately determining that summary judgment was warranted based on the remaining record. The court concluded that Deque failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact regarding its entitlement to injunctive relief, as it presented no evidence of ongoing or threatened infringement after BrowserStack removed the allegedly infringing content and false advertisements from its website. Consequently, without the excluded damages evidence and lacking proof of ongoing harm necessary for equitable relief, Deque’s claims could not survive summary judgment. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.