In late April, the Texas Supreme Court affirmed an appellate court’s decision overturning the sealing of multiple exhibits in the Title Source (now Amrock) v. HouseCanary trade secrets case, holding that the trial court had applied the wrong procedural and substantive law in retroactively sealing the exhibits. In an unusual series of events, the exhibits were sealed approximately six weeks post-trial at HouseCanary’s request only after they were used in open court to obtain a favorable verdict that, prior to being reversed, led to the award of more than $700 million in damages.

As the latest development in a years-long legal battle over alleged breaches of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, and fraud, the unsealing of the exhibits is an important victory for First Amendment advocates who view their attempted concealment as contrary to principles of freedom of speech and public access to information. It is also a significant defeat for HouseCanary, whose legal claims center on the notion that the exhibits’ content, which will once again be made public, can be considered proprietary information.