Prosecutors have successfully convinced a federal appeals court to allow the U.S. Army to keep secret its communication with a property management company that’s locked in litigation with a rival over fraud allegations.

Lawyers for American Management Services LLC, doing business as Pinnacle, argued in October in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that the Army should have been required to disclose information it received from Arlington, Va.-based Clark Realty Capital LLC. The two companies were jointly involved in property management deals with the Army, arrangements that are at the center of the dispute over documents.