Rejecting the federal standard for determining whether a party has “prevailed” on his or her claim under the Massachusetts Wage Act, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 149, §§ 148 & 150, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has held instead that the less-stringent “catalyst” test applies. As a result, plaintiffs who received $20,500 in a settlement under the Act were entitled to an award of attorney’s fees. Ferman v. Sturgis Cleaners, Inc., 481 Mass. 488, 2019 Mass. LEXIS 96 (Feb. 19, 2019).
Nearly twenty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court held that to be considered a “prevailing” party in a private settlement of a lawsuit, a plaintiff would have to obtain judicial approval, or “imprimatur,” of the settlement. Buckhannon Bd. & Care Home, Inc. v. West Virginia Dep‘t of Health & Human Resources, 532 U.S. 598 (2001). In so holding, the Court rejected application of the “catalyst” test, which requires a plaintiff only to...
