Say you win an arbitration. The state law you based your claim on calls for the winner to get his or her attorneys’ fees. The loser goes to federal court to vacate the award but loses that gambit, too. Can you recover your fees for fighting the effort to overturn the arbitration outcome?
Yes, the First Circuit held today under Massachusetts law. The court ruled that the district court abused its discretion to award fees failing to exercise it. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC v. Tobin, No. 08-1863 (1st Cir. July 9, 2009).
