Massachusetts Court Awards Attorneys' Fees For In-House Counsel's Work

Peter Jarvis and Allison Martin Rhodes are Partners in our Portland office Trisha Rich is an Associate in our Chicago office

HIGHLIGHTS:

In a question of first impression, the Massachusetts Court of Appeals held that trial court judges have discretion to award attorneys' fees for work performed by in-house counsel for claims brought under the state's unfair trade practices law. The court's decision in Massachusetts results in the state joining a growing number of jurisdictions that recognize fee recoveries can be appropriate for work completed by in-house counsel. Forward-thinking lawyers would be wise to identify potential fee-shifting cases early and to request that in-house counsel keep contemporaneous and detailed time sheets. In a question of first impression, the Massachusetts Court of Appeals recently held that trial court judges have discretion to award attorneys' fees for work performed by in-house counsel for claims brought under the state's unfair trade practices law. The case, Holland, et al. v. Jachmann, 85 Mass.App.Ct. 292, 2014 WL 1887534 (2014), decided on May 14, 2014, arose out of a dispute between two entities that had formed following a corporate split by Omniglow Corporation, a manufacturer of light sticks and other luminescent products.

Following the split, the relationship between the two resultant companies, Cyalume and Omniglow (which had retained the original Omniglow...