Mass Appeals Court Allows Recovery of Fees for In-House Counsel

The Massachusetts Court of Appeals ruled last week that attorney’s fees for legal work performed by in-house counsel are properly recoverable under M.G.L. c. 93A. A copy of the decision can be found here. 

In allowing the fee award, the Appeals court held that, “every hour spent on the []litigation was an hour when [in-house counse]’s efforts were directed away from other legal matters... Therefore, having in-house counsel engaged in the present suit had a concrete financial impact on [the plaintiff], which we conclude ‘incurred’ a cost.” The Court also applied policy considerations in awarding in-house counsel’s fees, stating, “To deny attorney’s fees to Omniglow in this case simply because it chose to utilize its own in-house counsel would undercut the deterrent purposes of c. 93A and would implicitly reward the defendants for their questionable behavior.”